One good thing did come of the disappointment of the time being void for Mansfield 10k though - the following Saturday I set about Parkrun and managed my best ever time of 29:32! Shaved nearly a minute and a half off my previous PB and broke the sub 30 target too!
So in the next couple of days I started browsing around for my next challenge. I saw a few that looked sort of alright and mentioned it at work, to which my colleague eagerly decided we should definitely sign up for the Crossdale 10k. So we did.
Not much to tell about the training in the weeks leading up to the race really. Done a lot more outside running compared to treadmill running now that I'm living over the river in a more scenic area. Also, brought myself one of those fancy watch things that track how far and fast I go, which I found very exciting (yep, I've turned in to one of those people!)
Skip forward to race day and I wasn't feeling too bad. The weather was decent, I had my fan club on hand to support me, and I was only slightly apprehensive about the unfamiliar trail terrain as opposed to the road running I'm used to.
Then we started the walk to the start line and the apprehension started to merge in to more of a blind panic.
I've mentioned in previous posts that I'm fairly unsteady on my feet. So it didn't bode well for me that the ground was uneven and a bit on the slippy side. As Dave (my mate from work) and I walked down the starting point we started to seriously question what we'd let ourselves in for. The starting horn went, I stuck my headphones in, set my watch off and set about running down the steep hill stretched out in front of me.
Once I'd set of I realised that I was actually quite enjoying this trail business. The scenery was lovely, and it was great to be out in the open in the fresh country air. Things could have been much worse!
Then I got to a puddle and nearly died. Well nearly fell flat on my arse but it's just about the same things. I was a bit on the cautious side for a while after that, but on the whole the trail was fairly easy going. Kilometres four to six were a bit boring and tedious, but I think that seems to be a bit of a pattern, I set off well, get a bit bored, then get excited when the end is in sight.
So I passed the 9km sign with the excitement that I'd be crossing the finishing line soon, went under a nice little bridge thing and came out again with the finish line practically in sight. There was just the small matter of the massive hill I'd absent mindedly ran down without a care in the world less than an hour earlier standing in my way.
I got to the foot of the hill and was determined to run up it, it was only a hill it looked like this...
About 50 metres up and I started to I was climbing a hill into the clouds. It was bloody hard. I chickened out of the running and thought I'd have a little walk. But seconds late I spotted my brother and his girlfriend so thought I'd better show willing and start running again. This lasted about five steps. This pattern pretty much continued until the top of the hill, walk a bit run a bit until the bitter end. It was flipping hard but I got there at the end, Dad cheering me on from the top and Simon and Katie willing me on alongside me. Just a bit of another hill and a sprint to the end and I'd done it! Race number three over and done with, crossing the line exactly three seconds quicker than my previous PB!
As much as I've waffled on about the hill, I really can't do it justice with words, so here's the elevation graph from that fancy new watch I mentioned:
Unfortunately, there was no fancy medal this time, which means we completely forgot to take sweaty finishing photos!
Despite the hill, I really did enjoy this one, it was a lovely atmosphere (I've not even mentioned the kids' fun run!) and it's definitely one I'll be pencilling in next year - maybe I'll even run all the way up the hill!
So that's it, race number three done! Got a couple lined up over the next few months, including a Santa run which I'm extremely excited about, watch this space!
