It was quite good to know that the warm up would be
guanranteed without interruption but of course the time normally spent travelling to the race was spent mooching about the house after breakfast, nervously waiting to set off on the warm up run.
Pat was making one of her rare race outings today and to be honest after a very indifferent track sesion on Wednesday a thought to run around with her instead of racing 100% crossed my mind for an instant but was quickly dismissed as "wimping out " from the proper task in hand.
Yesterday's pollen heavy jog around the fields did nothing to boost the enthusiasm; breathing very laboured and eyes watering even with the shades on. Not good.
So much so that I even considered refraining from having any alcohol last night in the Italian restaurant. But when we sat down I looked over towards the drinks chiller and the bottles of Moretti Italian lager were calling out, "Drink me, drink me!
How could I refuse.......a couple of glasses of Frascati went down quite well also.
So the race itself. Well, this Manchester park series race was like a Parkrun "with attitude" in that it was 7K
(actually 7.2K) rather than 5K and involved 50% of trail with inclines, not really hills. Given the terrain I predicted a time around the 30 minute mark would be a fair return.
Usual scenario.......let them go and pull back as many as possible ....just like the Platt Fields 10K a fortnight ago. Miles splits being 6.52 6.56 6.56 6.41 with 3.03 for the remaining 0.45.
As many as possible but not, as I forecast, Emma Jones of Belle Vue who I caught just before the
finish in the 10K. I couldn't catch her today...but she was in sight. 36th (30:08 to my 30:32)
In the category FRANK DAY of East Cheshire "stuffed me" again and another non- Grand Prix runner also pushed me back to 3rd. (of 3!)
But the run back "home" could not be started until we had waited to see how PAT had gone on in her return to racing. Needless to say, she was first of the 3 F60 runners; prompting discussion of course about her future training and racing. 89th of 112 in 40:41.
Given the narrowness of the paths, the gates etc.it's as well the number of participants is comparatively low
112 runners today. Plenty of marshalls to ensure the course was adhered to but many competitors said afterwards they would have appreciated some K markers on this unfamiliar distance.
But given that unfamilair distance it meant a PB in our 60s for Pat and myself and probably for many others.
But you must have run the first 7k of a marathon in under 30 mins!
ReplyDeleteMalcolmW