Short and (semi) Fast...

It was 11pm on a Saturday night and I was at the Moot Hall in Keswick having just supported a friend on the last leg of his (successful) Bob Graham Round. A girl I didn't recognise approached me and asked if I was "Joasia" (well, not quite, but I think that was the name she was aiming for!!). It turns out that someone had been trying to contact me to ask if I would run a 10K race in Middlesborough - not thinking much of it, except that it was probably a small friendly local race if I was being asked by someone else supporting a BGR, I agreed and arranged to visit my parents the night beforehand.

Prudhoe Riverside parkrun was just off my route across to Durham and, as I was passing it at an appropriate time, it seemed like a sensible idea to break my journey with a run. It looked like a simple 2 lap course and although I'm not a fan of short fast events, the LV40 record was 21:20 so I thought it was probably a "slow course" and so would be a scenic run rather than a fast run - perfect!

I did think that I might miss the start as there was rather a delay getting into the carpark as the level crossing was down (for what seemed like forever), and then it was a good half mile along the riverside path from the carpark to the actual course, but luckily I made it just in time for the pre-run briefing.



The trail on Lap 1

There was the usual mass start, but luckily the tarred path was relatively wide so it was not too hard to weave around a few people. There were some cables across the path that had been covered over with a raised step, but I liked the touch of putting up a "careful - ramp" sign. The tarred path was rather pretty as it headed through trees along the river bank, and became even more so as we headed off it onto some packed trails. There were several guys ahead of me but I gradually closed up on them and somehow moved away ahead of the leading one as we climbed a short incline at the start of the "backstraight" of the loop. This meant that I had a clear run along a lovely flat forest trail, though I could see the railway line through the trees to my left. Just as I started to wonder if I'd gone the wrong way (though I hadn't seen any other paths so surely I couldn't have taken a wrong turning!?!), a cheering marshal (and minimarshal) came into view. They were at a 90 degree turn which then saw me flailing down a sudden steep slope back to the tarmac path at the bottom. Another 90 degrees to the right saw me on the second lap and this time I started to pass a few people, which was great as we could offer mutual support and encouragement (and I like the fact that the backmarker wears a bib signifying "Tailwalker" rather than Tailrunner to demonstarte the inclusivity of parkrun).

If you can't run downhill well
shut your eyes and hope for the best!

I hadn't reset my watch at the start so didn't really know my pace (I had to wait for a results text to find out my time), but could feel my legs tiring, espeically as I consciously braked for the final short descent. This time I took a 90 degree turn to the left at the bottom to head towards the finish as their first ever first overall female finisher (which, I hasten to add, says more that there was a slower field than usual that day, than anything about me!). By the time I got to my parents' house, I was waxing lyricial about what a pretty and friendly parkrun it was, and that they should definitely go and check it out!

On arrival in Middlesborough for the Tees Pride 10K on Sunday morning, I realised how mistaken I'd been about the scale of the race. Although there was a fun atmosphere with stalls and bands on the fields near to the start and finish, it was a huge race with over 3000 entrants ranging from the "Elite" pen to the "Pleased to Finish" start pen which contained many runners taking on their first ever 10K event. As my friend Alister and I walked to the start we discussed possible target times. I said that ideally I'd like to run about 37minutes, whereas he was aiming for 44minutes.

Brilliant to meet a fellow Comrades 4th place finisher!

I chatted to Gerda Steyn (a Nedbank runner who has finished 4th at this year's Comrades race) in our start pen. She was hoping to break 37minutes so I hoped that by trying to keep her in sight, I'd be dragged along at a decent pace. As always, I was fearful of the start, but luckily there was no pushing and shoving as the road wasn't too narrow and so I managed to get up and running without being trampled. I made my way up over the first few hundred metres so that I could see Gerda ahead of me.

It doesn't matter where you are in the field of a race - we all go through similar bad spells (well I guess you don't if you're having a really good day), and so I debating stopping after the first mile....I couldn't believe how far we still had to run considering how little my legs wanted to keep turning over. The course is very flat ( I think the elevation gain is measured only 88 feet over the whole race on my watch) and covers 4 sides of a square, but this means that you are exposed to any wind there is (now, if it's a square, how can it possibly be a headwind the whole way?).

Gerda gradually eased further and further away from me but I somehow managed to talk myself into not stopping. A man passed me and tried to get me to go with him to close down the gap, but there was no chance of that. I looked at my watch and realised that that mile (mile 4) had been rather faster than intended already (I guess there may have been a bit of a tailwind there without me realising) and I needed to "slow down or die". My next mile was back to a more sensible pace and I could just see Gerda overtake Tracy (Millmore) a long way up ahead and move into first place.

Recovering with Gerda and Tracy

There were many bystanders out supporting the runners (and they, along with the bands en route, added to the fun atmosphere) who tried to encourage me as I headed into the last mile. They implied that Tracy was tiring and that she wasn't much more than 20 seconds ahead of me. Unfortunately this was also by far my slowest mile (it turns out that it was for everyone...so although I know the fast one earlier had come back to haunt me, I think the head wind was strongest at this point). I was convinced that I'd been hearing some cheering for "Lisa" just behind me for the last 2 miles so tried to keep going right to the finish, but fully expected to be outsprinted by said Lisa. It was just about all I could do to make it there....as I did have to stand "hands on knees" in the finish funnel trying to recover my composure!

You have to love receiving a text like that!

3rd place

In the end, I found out that I'd been hearing things as I finished as 3rd lady, 16 seconds behind Tracy and 1 minute 38s in front of the 4th lady (Gerda just got stronger and stronger, finishing in 36:08, proving the benefits of her recent altitude training). When I got my results text through I was delighted to read the time of 37:00, but Alister won bragging rights (and so I bought the finish lines beers at a local stall as we waited for prizegiving) as he'd well and truly beaten his target, recording 43:48! All in all, not a bad weekend of speedwork :-)