Hey all,
I've been crap at updating this blog recently, 2 months since my last post, which is terrible, so I am going to make more of an effort! Here is a 3 race catch up:
Hull 10k
What a miserable day. Start by crawling, lifelessly, out of bed at 4am, getting ready for what was my biggest race so far in terms of field size. The weather wasn't fantastic, some light rain turned into a downpour by the start of the race. I hadn't really prepared for that sort of weather, I never do. So I was really quite lucky not to get ill, as by the start I was already saturated and freezing.
Hull ain't much of a looker as a city, not going to lie! Though the race its self was quite an easy route, with not too many hills and a good variation of the sights around Hull. I think my main concerns that I got from running this race is how you have a lot of people who just decide to run it on a whim, very little training and no understanding of race etiquette.
Things like:
- Don't chuck empty bottles and cups into the middle of the road where people run, chuck them off to the side
- If you are going to throw the water over your head, make sure you hit your head and not tip the water on the person behind you.
- If you are a slow runner, admit it, don't hold people up or cause yourself exhaustion
- Don't try and shoulder barge your way through the field, there's always someone bigger than you that you'll come off worst against
- Don't stop in the middle of the course to tie your shoe lace, we didn't come to do a slalom.
I finished with a PB of around 51 minutes, though I can't exactly recall and it was the first race that may knee made it through without failing again.
Leeds 10k -
This one was much better weather wise, but the race field was even larger and the course had this really odd layout which constantly bottle-necked you and made it impossible for the field to flow. People were even ruder in this race, and afterwards I said I'd need a lot more patience to run the London marathon.
Anyway, the actual run was really fun once you got going and it made me realise that Leeds is actually a really nice city that has a bit of everything. I completed the course in around 56 minutes.
Pudsey 10k -
As I did this one yesterday i remember it a bit more clearly. This 10k definitely wins the award, so far, for most challenging and varied 10k I have competed in. The course was this fantastic combination of asphalt, sand, lose rocks, gravel, soil, mud, puddles, even horse muck that ended up all over my shoes! It had fantastic inclines and declines, but given that i've been off training for 2 months due to my injury, my fitness levels made it horrendously challenging, combined with the heat!
I wasn't at all prepared for it, as we started on the roads I, wrongly, assumed that it was going to be more of the same, and that the inclines wouldn't be too bad. Well, about 2k in, it all went downhill (and uphill). I don't think I ran a flat section after that. My shoe lace came undone so that dropped me down the field and then my attempt to catch up left me breathless from all the hills.
When I finished I was amazed to do it in under an hour as it was that much of a struggle. Though I was a wreck after the race, it took me alot of water, alot of food and a two hour nap to recover from the race. The race was so bad I was coughing quite a lot for a few hours, but this was more to do with being a bit unwell last week, the stress of the run was a bit much on me!
I now also seem to be fully recovered from my injury and returning to training later today, though i'm starting from the bottom and working back up, looking not to stress my body too much.
Sorry for taking so long to catch you up on things!
The next one is York 10k
Best,
John
