Running

Up Flow Down Tow Race Report:

Got the train to Windsor with plenty of time to spare, thought I saw someone on the train matching hats' description but was on my way to the loo, saw them again in the start area but was on my way to drop my bag off and then couldn't see them when I got back. Decided not to go around asking everyone if they were hats.

I started in wave 2 right at the back but still managed to set off a bit too fast. I was hoping to maintain an 8 min mile pace but after 4 or 5 miles I was two mins ahead of that pace. Settled into a comfortable rythm behind a couple of guys for a few miles and then passed them when I thought I had a bit more in the legs.

Passing the 6 mile marker at about 46 mins I was still ahead of my planned pace, but pretty pleased knowing that was the fastest 10k I've run and my legs were still feeling good.

Getting to Maidenhead was a good milestone on the route as I knew it was about half way. I'd been eating Jelly Babies at a rate of 1 a mile and making sure I took on water at every mile marker too. The day had started overcast so the first half wasn't too hot, and I'd run through several water stations without feeling he need to take any extra water.

After I started to tire a little from mile 8, so tried to concentrate on just maintaining my pace, eating jelly babies, and sipping water. By mile 10 I was feeling pretty tired but I knew that as we were in Cookham, there wasn't far to go.

The sun was out by this point and the last 3 miles were pretty hot. There was very little shade, my water had run out, and my legs were not feeling so good. I concentrated on getting to the next water point, took two cups and walked a little so I could drink them both before continuing.

The last two miles were about damage limitation for me. I was struggling and knew my pace would drop a lot if I didn't push to maintain it. The heat was taking its toll but after what felt like a very long time the 400m to go sign came into view! The finish was a bit odd, it wasn't really clear where the line was. As I rounded the final corner I saw my girlfiend with my son who gave me a boost to push to the end. I tried to sprint but my legs wouldn't obey my head so I just ran a bit faster over the line.

Completely empty, forgot to stop my watch, almost cramped up, remembered to stop my watch, 1:44:10, not bad, medal, water, banana, kisses for girlfriend and son. Went to sit and watch others finishing and cool off. Saw person-who-might-have-been-hats and shouted DAS but didn't get a response.

It was only after an ice cream that I realised there was a results tent, you typed in your race number and got a little ticket printed off that had your stats on, cool:

Overall gun position: 142
Category position: 65
Gender position: 123
Pace: 7:57 min/mile
Chip time: 1:43:57
Gun time: 1:44:13

Pretty happy with the result, even though my legs don't feel happy at all!