So, Sunday saw me do my first stand alone 10k for a few years. The last one was the Norfolk Gazelles Valentine 10k, which I ran in 43:21.
I was feeling pretty good on the day, and had been looking forward to this race for a little while.
It's not a flat course, and on the day, it was fairly wet, so it was never going to be a fast time, but I just want to see improvements...
Race day, I woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning.
After my usual pre race brekkie (Porridge), I pottered about, gathering some last minute bits.
Suddenly, I was aware of quite a noise outside... Looking out of a window, it was raining! Not just any rain, it was like 'stair rods'! Pissing down. I had to drop my son, Aiden, off at his mums, en route, otherwise I'd have just got changed and gone back to bed! So, off we set... Luckily, the rain had eased off to nothing by the time I got to Freethorpe.
Drawing up to the entrance of the field car park, I decided to decline the hospitality of the marshall and made a right turn into a small housing estate (preferring that to the boggy mess I was sure would await me after the race). Quickly found a nice place to park, without causing any inconvenience to residents and left my car, heading for registration.
As I approached the HQ, the rain started again. Not heavy, but still raining, I was not impressed to find that the registration was under a gazebo in the car park! Queuing in the rain... Marvellous!
Why they had opted to do that, instead of use the nice, warm HQ, I have no idea. Nor can I see why they had to issue timing chips on the day, when, at their previous race in January, they'd posted out the numbers, with a timing chip attached to it. So you just turned up and ran...
Anyway, on to the race...
Having got my chip, I went and got changed, and took my bag to the baggage tent.
A few laps of a wet field and I classed that as being about as warmed up as I was going to get.
I grabbed the opportunity to catch up with a few people I saw at the race, and exchanged a few friendly jibes with some.
Soon, we were all congregating at the start area. Plenty of last minute checks of various types of race watches around me.
Just a few days ago my Garmin Tri HR monitor had suddenly quit! Opening the unit, to change the battery, I found traces of water in behind the battery. I thought it had had it, as a new battery didn't help, but decided to give it a chance and left it in the boiler cupboard to dry out. This meant that on race day, I only had a Garmin Swim HR to wear. Not overly impressed with this strap, as there is very little elasticated strap to it, meaning it's very restrictive, so can't be worn too tight.
At last, I could hear the countdown... 3, 2 , 1 and we were off.
I was hoping for a sub 40, but, given the conditions, I quickly realised that that wasn't going to happen.
Conditions where the same for everyone, so, I just concentrated on my race and paced as best I could.
After about 5k, the HR band started to slip! Damn thing! At first I noticed it on the climbs, as I appeared to breath that bit harder, in deeper, out further, and as I breathed out further, so the strap slipped a bit, on each and every breath... Now, every few hundred metres, I was having to reach under my vest and hitch the bloody thing up.
The race unfolded well for me, and I was able to maintain my pace through to the end. Although the strap was needing to be adjusted more and more frequently, until, near the end, when I thought sod it and left it. So, I crossed the line with my HR around my waist. (Still recording, too!).
Chip time was 42:15, so I was happy that I had made an improvement.
Onwards and upwards...
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