Tales from the Start Line - Manchester Marathon

They say humans are unable to accurately remember pain. The acute sensation fades away and the mind can't recall the feeling. Famously, in women who have just given birth, the body releases chemicals into the brain to blur the memory of the pain, to ensure they'll have more kids.

This week has been a bit like that for me - as the days go by the memory of the last few miles of Manchester have faded, while the feeling of euphoria, pride and achievement remain.

I was relaxed and confident in the run up to the race - slightly different to last year. We travelled up on Saturday and stayed with our friends Phil and Clodagh in Altrinhcam...perfect for getting to the start line. Staying with friends allowed me to minimise any disruption to pre-run routine - food, sleep etc.

Come Sunday  morning there was a decent number of fellow runners at Alty tram station an we picked plenty more up on the 20 min journey to Old Trafford. It felt quite strange to be walking down the Warwick Road, (as I have done countless times before to watch United), and not have swag men selling scarves, burger vans selling questionable meat and ticket touts looking for spares every 20 feet!

Manchester was a huge contrast to London last year....with only ~9000 runners instead of London's 35,000+ the scale is vastly different. There's only one race village for a start, and family and friends can wander round there too, and even walk up to the start with the runners. (Mine didn't, preferring some extra kip and a leisurely breakfast instead :))

Feeling confident pre race!

 

 

The loos queues didn't seem to be too bad (and there was ample opportunity for male runners at least to go, ermm, al fresco) and I even managed to get a cup of tea in about 30 mins before the start! All in all, much more relaxed and stress-free compared to the relative chaos of London1

 

 

I half expected the race to go off late (they usually do) but bang on 9.00 the gun went and the fast runners took off. According to the official stats I crossed the start line only 4 minutes and 13 seconds later, so a very smooth start. Now it was time to see if my pre race confidence was warranted....

 

 

 

The course starts off heading down the A56 chester road into Manchester before looping around by the Cornbrook tram stop (site of the now closed Pomona pub, where I may have imbibed an ale or two in past times) and then veering off for a section on the Quays, where you pass ITV studios (Corrie!) and the Imperial War Museum North. Quite a cultural first few miles really, and multiple opportunities to spot people ahead or behind you in two sections of "out and back".

 

I had my first sight of my loyal supporters around the 4 mile mark as we wound past Old Trafford before hitting the A56 again, but this time heading out of town on the long trek. I was hitting my target 9 minute mile pace almost perfectly which boded well! The net few miles were uneventful....a long stretch out to Sale before heading off the A56 finally via Sale Moor and Brooklands and then another long stretch down into the halfway point at Altrincham (during which you could again see the fast athletes on the other side, and I spotted the ED for Wycombe parkrun, Sam Amend, leading the woman's race)

 

Altrincham, for me, marked the start of the race in some ways. It was the halfway point which is always a key marker. It also marked the last sight of my supporters until the final stretch at best...luckily as the race loops through there I got to see them twice, and even managed to grab a kiss from my wife (coincidentally, I then set my fastest mile of the race with an 8:48!)

 

But from here in on in, the pressure would grow. My next mental and physical marker was the 16-17 mile section. Physically I knew that running 16 miles @ 9min/mile pace was doable given my half marathon paces, after that I was entering the realm of "do I need to drop the pace to finish?" -  question I would ask repeatedly for the next 10 miles.

Mentally - this was around the point I struggled in London, and ran/walked for several miles, before recovering later on. This year I was determined to not have the same issues and decided that once I hit 16 miles I'd focus on getting to 20 as my next focus point - it seemed to work,

 

A point here about the public - while Manchester is a smaller event, the on course support is still superb....but it manages to avoid being over whelming. There are loads of areas where there is high concentrated levels of support...usually in the heart of the old villages that once sat outside Manchester (Sale, Timperley, Altrincham etc) but it was mixed with quieter areas. Still had people supporting but more spread out and less intrusive. I really like that tbh  - and I've never seen so much food on offer at the side of the race from the public, from jelly-babies to cakes and everything in between. I think the fact so much of the race goes through residential areas had something to with it...

 

Anyhoo - back to the race. 18 miles in and I was still on pace and feeling OK. At this point going sub 4 hours started to seem realistic, and I busied my mind by calculating what buffer I had if I started to slow ....this meant every 9 min mile was a minute ticked off closer to the target. Miles 18-20 are the most isolated of the race as you go via Carrington Lane (proper country)  and there was an additional issue of silage and manure smell to deal with!

 

Through Mile 20 in under 3 hours and I could start to taste that finish. Plus my sweat. And my gel. And the pain. There's an old adage that the marathon doesn't start till Mile 20......while I think that's a little untrue as you do see the finish on the horizon, there's no question it's a whole different section of the race.

We wound through Flixton, Urmston and into Stretford and I tried to focus on the next mile...and the next....and the next. My pace finally dropped from my 9 min/mile metronome........9:09. 9:16, 9;17 9:28. Then my final major marker - just a parkrun to go! I started berating myself in my head "C'mon Rory, you can do a parkrun in your sleep on one leg, there's no quitting now., imagine you're trotting round Bedfont Lakes"

24 miles went by, then I hit the A56 for the final time. "Oh fuck, Old Trafford looks so far away...shut up and keep moving" My legs by this point felt completely independent from my body and appear to be moving on sheet instinct alone rather than any input from my brain. The last 1.5 miles went on and on and on, but finally I saw my "almost there" marker of the Greatstone hotel and I knew it was nearly over.

Up to the Trafford bar and then it was one last turn into Sir Matt Busby Way. A few hundred yards more through a finish funnel that felt like a professional race, and then I was done - over the line in

 

 

3:56:27!!!!!!!

 

Sub 4 hours achieved - with some to spare as well. Even better, my supporters were waiting just behind the finish line to congratulate me. A quick (well, slow) passage through the finish area and I could meet them (in the VIP tent no less!) wearing a heavy medal, a huge grin and legs that were starting to violently complain about their treatment.

 

 

A happy, happy man

 

The rest of the day followed a familiar pattern........re-hydrate, then beer, then shower, then beer, then food, then beer, then bed!

 

So that was Manchester marathon.

Where I finally felt I achieved my marathon potential.

Where my training and lifestyle changes bore fruit.

Where I felt (strongly) the support of not just my wife and friends on the day but also all the others....my family and friends in Ireland, my co-workers in P&G, my fellow Run with Karen runners and, of course all my legions of parkrun friends.

 

And where I saw that, for a marathon, bigger is not necessarily better.

 

Now, what's my next marathon................? :-)





Taper time - treat or torture?

I'm in my final week of training before the marathon next Sunday, which means I've been tapering for the last 2 weeks, ever since the Hampton Court Palace half marathon

Tapering is odd - you spend 13-14 weeks training harder and harder - increasing your distance, increasing the intensity, pushing yourself harder and harder.......and then you drop off.

I ran 16, 20 and 18 miles on successive Sundays. Then ran 12 the following week and just 6 this Sunday. My midweek marathon paced run has dropped to 5 last week and just 3 next week.

It feels........wrong. It feels weird. It feels like you're losing your fitness, losing the endurance, wasting all those weeks of effort. You think you're forgetting how to run long distances, and you start to panic that you shouldn't be doing this, you should be out running, running, running.

It's all nonsense of course - tapering is designed to have your body in tip top shape for the race. 2-3 weeks of reducing distance and intensity allow the slightly battered body time to rest, time for muscles to repair and time for any niggles to work themselves out - thus ensuring you're a lean running machine in time for the marathon. (Ummm, like I am. Ahem). But it does funny things to the mind, hence the post title

Personally I'm enjoying taper - last year I was injured, panicking and worried about how it would feel on the day. This year, I'm enjoying having a lie-in on a Sunday morning and only running for an hour. I'm enjoying having a Saturday night beer. I'm far more relaxed and confident as...

• I'm not injured!
• I'm running really well all spring......an somehow knocked out a 22:11 5K PB before parkrun this week
• I'm not injured!
• I'm carrying a lot less weight than last year (32 pounds less at last count)
• I've already done a bloody marathon - and therefore know exactly what to expect
• I'm under no real pressure - no sponsorship, no "can I get round?" jitters

If anything I'm in danger of feeling over-confident....though somehow I doubt that'll be an issue come 9am Sunday morning

Proof of my 5k PB - just a shame it's not an official parkrun time

Anyway, I'm nearly there. Some sprint intervals tomorrow night, 3 miles on Thursday and a very gentle parkrun on Saturday. Then the train to MANCHESTER (which is red btw) lunchtime Saturday before the big day - I'm number 7401 in case anyone wants to track me

Looks like it's official

Guess it's time to relax then and enjoy the last week of taper - definitely a treat....

Tales from the Start Line - Hampton Court Palace Half (plus 5)

You know what the hardest thing about a LSR is?

If you said "the running"  - you're wrong. Actually running it isn't THAT hard - it's low intensity, it's often quite peaceful running in a park on a Sunday morning, and there's the vision of a gigantic breakfast and lots of beer in your future. Plus the smug feeling deep down when you casually mention to othrs that "yeah, just did 16/18/20 miles this morning"

So no, it's not the running.

It's all the other crap.

It's the revolving your weekend around the run. It's the run hanging over you from Friday (especially when venturing into uncharted territory). It's the early Saturday night, and earlier Sunday morning. It's forcing yourself to consume breakfast at 6.30am on a Sunday. It's the NO FRIGGING BEER ON A SATURDAY NIGHT!

And when you stick on the clocks going forward and losing an hour, well......

But we make our choices and stick by them. So last Saturday I was up at the unholy hour of 5.15am ("body time") aka 6.15am ("official time") as I was off to run the Hampton Court Palace Half marathon...plus 5 miles before.

I wouldn't normally run a half marathon this late in my training as it's too short, and it's often difficult to tack on the necessary mileage to make it long enough.

I made an exception though as one of my closest friends was making her half marathon debut - and given it was largely down to my urging that she was doing this, it seemed only fair that I run it with her. Thankfully the race start was close to Bushy Park which made it easy to get my 5 miles in before the start.

The race itself was - well, a mixed bag if I'm honest. The start area (at the entrance to the Palace) was chaotic to put it mildly. No segregation, inaudible announcements and no pace pens/areas to sieve out the slower runners meant the first few miles (on the narrow towpath) were pretty congested and would be very frustrating for faster runners.
The course was nice enough - 2 laps incorporating the towpath from Hampton Court Bridge to Kingston Bridge for the first lap then a meander through various parts of the Palace park and grounds. There were several sections of "switchback" which I find a little frustrating (don't like seeing everyone else so far ahead!) and there was a definite feel of the organisers trying to shoehorn the 13.1 miles into the area.
The worst aspect though was far and away the water supply. While not quite as bad as last year's Sheffield Half Marathon, the placing of the stations was bizarre. 4 miles, 4.75 miles, 10.25 miles and 12.5 miles.

Not exactly evenly spread, and most people were gasping by 10 miles (and what's the point of a station with 0.5 mile left?). If it had been a warm day it would have been a lot worse - luckily (??) it was wet and windy. The stations themselves were also undermanned. This was my 12th half marathon and the first one where I felt like there was insufficient water.

On the plus side the medal was a bit different, there was a free (cotton) T-shirt, the car parks were close enough that you didn't need a bag drop and the I got my hands on a hot cup of tea inside 15 mins of finishing thanks to the Palace café.

My time? Doesn't matter - it was a training run, and the objective was to support my friend round (by talking her ear off)

Objective completed (and inside her target time!)



Next stop Manchester......



(P.S. That was my last LSR and am now in the wonderful world of taper. Unlike last year, I should be able to enjoy this as raceday draws near!)

parkrundayparkrundayparkrunday

It never ceases to amaze me how parkrun continues to grow and grow. Even in areas where you think you might be hitting saturation point - like the South East - new events continue to pop up on a regular basis.

As a result, I've been involved in helping set up a couple of new events in the M4 corridor and had the benefit of seeing one such event get across the start line (geddit?) on Saturday.

The event in question was in Maidenhead and I first met the team back in October  - along with Kerri French and Ian Cockram we went along to check out their proposed venue and agree on the course route. Fast forward 5 months and I rocked up on Saturday morning wondering what it ould be like.

It was my first inaugural  - for those unaware, inaugural parkruns have become a big thing in parkrun world which has led to some issues. Just imagine that you're a new event director or first time volunteer at a new event. You've done the training, helped out at other events, done the test event and then.....

.....come inaugural morning you get hundreds of people turn up.


Yeah - it's a bit daunting. I get 150ish at my own event, so if I got 300 next week I'd panic, never mind a brand new team!

Maidenhead turned out to be a classic large inaugural with 303 runners in total. A large contingent of tourists (due to a 250 club entry), plenty of familiar parkrun faces and even King Danny of the parkrunshow podcast  - which this week featured Maidenhead and even included an interview with yours truly. You can listen here

Despite the crowds the team did a fantastic job (well trained, clearly) and it all ran smoothly. I even spotted one of the core team with tears in their eyes watching the masses of runners....seeing it come to fruition can be quit emotional, and I confess I felt quite proud to be involved in that.

 Happy event team (and a glowing laptop!)

Oh, wait - the course. Prob should mention that - it' s essentially a 2 lap course which loops through a little nature reserve on gravelly paths and includes a nasty little short hill. It's nice and sheltered for most of it and has a lovely section by the side of a canal that will be particularly tranquil in summer.

The event also benefits from a Toby Carvery pub on site with a £3.99 all you can eat breakfast plus £1.99 for unlimited tea. Needless to say I took full advantage :)

Me and co-ED and fellow Ambassador Ian

 

A triptych of Ambassadors - Ian, Kezza and me

 

 

That wasn't the end of my parkrunday though - oh no. That afternoon it was off to another new event (with Ian and Kerri French - ED at Woodley, Ambassador extraordinaire and fellow marathon blogger - check her blog out here) to do their test event in Bracknell (redacted for security reasons). Test events are critical parts of a new team's evolution. It's essentially a full dress rehearsal with 30-50 runners...checking the course is ok, no major issues with the route, getting the team familiar with timing, scanning and processing results just like a normal event. It was again good fun to do that and then relax in the café with bacon sandwiches (cos I hadn't eaten enough earlier!) running through training slides and talking parkrun

 

After leaving the house at 8am I finally got home at 4pm. A mammoth parkrunday but a thoroughly enjoyable one

 

P.S. Oh and I ran 20 miles the next day. Marathon training and all that...but parkrunday was much more fun to do and write about.

Tales from the Start Line - Kingston Breakfast Run

Alternate Title - "How to mess up your race prep and get away with it"

One of the hardest things about this stage of marathon training is how much it dominates and affects your weekend. Particularly Saturday night - which becomes, well, a bit boring. No booze, no going out, nothing too exciting as you conserve your energy for the Sunday morning exertions.

Still, it at least gives you time to get all your prep sorted for the next day, especially if you're heading to a race.

Well, that's the theory anyway.  The reality this week was a little different though......I did have my kit sorted and race number attached OK the night before - but managed to forget my Garmin watch, realise way too late that I had no gels and then discovered my iPod shuffle was out of charge.

To cap it all my well-planned timeline for pre-race eating and travel turned out to be a little tight for comfort. Frantically searching the roads of Hampton Wick 20 minutes before race start looking for a parking space was not what I had anticipated.

Still, I made it to the start in time (after a warm-up of running hard from car over Kingston Bridge!) and at 8.35 or so I was off.

The Breakfast run has 8, 16 and 20 mile options....I was doing the 16 mile variant and, as always, it was a reminder of why races in a training calendar are both important and helpful. Important as they provide a handy status check on how the training is going and experience of running with hundreds of other runners (as opposed to a handful, or none), and helpful as they are essentially easier than a solo training run of the same distance. Water is provided (no need to carry extra weight), the course is marked (no worrying over route or risking getting lost) and you get plenty of support and encouragement from the marshals and crowds.

The route itself consisted of 2 x 8 mile laps. Started out in Kingston's town centre by the town hall, before heading over Kingston Bridge and down left onto the towpath. This takes you ~3 miles to Hampton Court Bridge and is probably the nicest portion of the race. Once at Hampton Bridge you go back onto the roads (so running on footpaths etc) and follow the A309 down through Thames Ditton. Eventually you intersect with the A309 / Portsmouth Road and follow that back into Kingston itself before looping back out on the second lap. It's a nice flat course but the section coming back into Kingston is a bit tricky - narrow paths with uneven camber which is always a concern for my glute.

All in all it was a comfortable race - plenty of support and it was good to see several of my extended running group there...before, during and after the race!

 

Sore legs? What sore legs?

I was quite pleased with my pace given the missing Garmin (finished in 2:35:09, pretty much perfect LSR pace of 9:40 min/mile) and felt in good shape all the way through - with 5 weeks to go till marathon day everything so far is going to plan. Next stop is the longest one - 20 miles at "Not the London Marathon" in Bushy...after a day of parkrun Ambassadoring on the Saturday!

As for the Kingston Breakfast Run - I'd do it again - but ideally with some better prep :-)

You've got to pick a parkrun or (twenty) two. Minus one.

So it's Saturday night, I'm sitting at home drinking tea ahead of a 15 mile LSR tomorrow and trying to ignore the siren song of the cold beer in my fridge.

Probably a good time for a blog post then........and I've decided to go through all of the various parkrun venues I've run at (21 of them - hence the title. Oh, I'm so witty) and give a brief description. To avoid accusations of favouritism I'm doing them in chronological order from my first on in 2009, to my latest "new" event on New Year's Day 2015

1) Richmond parkrun - A one lapper and one of the most scenic, especially on a clear day. Not as tough as its regulars may like to claim, but not a PB course either. Getting the train and cycling up Richmond Hill is a good warmup! My most run at event besides Bedfont. Watch out for deer...

2) Bedfont Lakes parkrun - the bestest parkrun in the UNIVERSE! (Biased, moi?) Mine own parkrun  - a lovely 2 lapper in a park I didn't know existed before parkrun. Parking can be an issue and you better be OK with getting wet and muddy due to the interminable winter puddles (a legacy of the park history I think). Averages 120-170 runners and has 2 amazing Event Directors.

3) Reading parkrun - Ran it when covered in snow and ice over Christmas. Great location next to the Thames, a mix of grass field and wood paths. Currently relocated due to flooding though (that's the issue with starting next to the Thames!)

4) Woodhouse Moor (nee Leeds) parkrun - newly renamed and one of the oldest events. A 2.5 lapper in a small park in the middle of Leeds all on tarmac and pretty flat

5) Malahide parkrun (Ireland) - my first parkrun outside UK, and the first in the Republic. Superb setting in the grounds of Malahide castle, a meandering course on tarmac and gravel paths. Gets big turnouts

6) Gunnersbury parkrun - another West London one near the M4. Starts on grass then follows the outside path around the park before diving through and around the wooded section, finishing on grass. The paths in the wooded section are a little tricky due to poor maintenance by the council but it's as flat as you can get

7) Little Stoke parkrun - On Bristol's outskirts, a small little 3 lapper, all bar the last 250m on grass. Flat as a pancake, plenty of parking and a refreshment van waits at the end. Due to layout you get plenty of encouragement. Bizarrely, the first person I saw there was a Bedfont regular.

8) Poole parkrun - I ran this while on my annual drinking camping weekend in Swanage so extremely heavy legs! Another pancake flat course with a bug turnout. 2 laps round the boating lake with soe narrow spots (and a nagging fear the adverse camber will lead you into said lake) before a (seemingly never ending) loop of the cricket pitch. They have a smart funnel system and use the cricket pavilion for storage / refreshments etc. Have to pay for parking, but it's very cheap

9) Barnstaple parkrun - A cracking event in North Devon, hard on the banks of the River Torridge. 2 and a half laps of a figure of 8 style course  - be careful at the pinch point! A very friendly event team too, and one of my multiple events

10) Castle Demense parkrun (Ireland) - The closest event to my home town of Ballincollig, I was delighted when this started. Wore my just received 50 t-shirt and was accorded semi-celebrity status as a result. A tricky little course with a lap around the GAA pitch then a dive into the woods, and under a low gate (watch your head if over 5' 10"!) before a sharp uphill shock, the out and back though the golf club car park. Repeat the loop through the woods and golf club before a run into the finish with a  nasty incline before the finish. The golf clu car park brings an interesting dimension to it! Loads of free refreshments in the community centre afterwards and a great event team

11) Worcester parkrun - Drove 50 miles from the Cotswolds to do this on New Year's Day. Due to heavy rain the course was a mud-bath, especially the start/finish area in a field! 2 laps through a wooded country park - would be much nicer in summer!

12) Leamington Spa parkrun - Another wet/muddy one. One lap round a golf course, with a horrendous hill at ~1km. Thankfully after that it's downhill the rest of the way. Plenty of parking

13) Whitley Bay parkrun - Gloriously scenic event overlooking the North Sea Coast. All on tarmac with various uphill and downhill sections and a great finish on the promenade. Slower runners may get annoyed with having to plough through already finished runners though. Piad for parking but again not expensive

14) Upton Court parkrun - Technically the closest parkrun to my house, this is a great little event with views of Windsor Castle on a good day. A 2 lap course on a mix of grass and tarmac, I set my parkrun PB here recently. Good food in the rugby clubhouse afterwards as well

<EDIT - overnight break, 15 mile run and new car later>

15) Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun - A fantastically scenic start overlooking the large boating lake with a handy downhill first 0.5km. Lakeside, forest-side and field-side views before the realisation that you have to go up the bit you went down. Bad enough on first lap but 10 times worse on second lap when you have to go up even further. Thought my heart would explode but a great event.

16) Tymon parkrun (Ireland) - Another Dublin parkrun that I ran on the same day the BBC piece on Bedfont aired. Got bus from central Dublin and basically spent 30 mins wandering around waiting for everyone to show up! 2 lap course in a very nice park next to the M50 and pretty flat. Now my brother's home parkrun

17) Wycombe Rye parkrun - First of my ambassador visits. A quirky course meandering mainly on tarmac on the outside perimeter with some grass sections. Includes a steps section which can impede PB hopes, and a two way section for encouraging others. Parking paid but incredibly cheap (60p for 3 hours!)

18) Black Park parkrun - Another Ambassador visit - a one lapper in a big park that borders Pinewood studios. A series of long straights and sharp turns on forest paths and a large turnout. A  highly organised and efficient finish funnel and scanning setup. Like all of my events, a great team :-)

19) Bushy Park parkrun - The one and only, the original parkrun. Iconic and unique, from the >1000 turnout to the double (triple) funnel. Flat as flat but not a PB course unless you get to the front cos you lose 10-20 seconds just getting to the start! Must be done at least once in a parkrun life.

20) Eastbourne parkrun -  A Christmas visit (with Dolly actually) - ran their alternate winter course which was an out and back on tarmac

21) Kingston parkrun - second part of my first new Year's Day double. Another out and back on the banks of the Thames with a loop at the turnaround point. Can be soggy at that point, and rumoured to be short (I stress, "rumoured". Ahem)

So there you go. 106 runs at 21 events over nearly 6 years.

Plenty more to come.............

Tales from the Start line - Valentine's 10k

"Race start time: 9am. Please arrove by 8am to park and pick up your race pack"

So said the official advice from the Valentine's 10k race email......so why was I up at 6am, out of the house at 6.45am and at race HQ in Chessington by 7.10 (causing a few puzzled faces among race organisers who were just setting HQ up...)?

Well, basically it's Danny "parkrunshow podcast" Norman's fault. He's been banging on about this race for months.....mainly cos his running club (aka "the best running club in Surbiton" - his own title) organise the race. (I suspect he also inserted subliminal messages into the podcasts). So I signed up. (to be fair, he did come and run Bedfont for my 100th parkrun!)

Problem was, the race is 10k. And was scheduled smack in the middle of my marathon training program, which called for 130 minutes running....10km just wasn't going to cut it - unless I walked

I therefore conceived a brilliant plan - get up earlier, get over early, run 75 minutes beforehand, then the race...and job's a good 'un (as nobody says).

It didn't seem as brilliant on Sunday morning when I was dragging my arse out of bed, especially after a busy Saturday including a night out for a few beers in Teddington, and some beer fuelled cycling to and from various train stations.

All thoughts of completing my PB hat-trick were promptly jettisoned as I plodded (and it felt like plodding) round the course on my own (getting a good pre-race recce to be fair) before timing my return to HQ / start area for about 20 mins pre race start...time enough to use the loo, catch Danny and his better half Libby, get my number on without cooling down too much.

Anyway - the race. I have to say it a was very nicely organised and managed event. When I ran the course on my own I was a little concerned about the lack of paths in some parts, what protection we would have from the traffic......but my fears were groundless. The first 1.5km or so heads down the A243 towards J9 but this section was closed off just till all the field (450 or so) got through and turned off.
The turnoff here was the focus of much pre-race panic due to roadworks which had threatened to wreck the race.....with some careful diplomacy a footpath through the junction was opened and worked very well in the end. There's then another 2.5km or down an empty country road (with some inclines) before heading left onto Roundabout road (my name for it) for 3km or so. I think we went through 5 of them on this section....someone had a thing for roundabouts!

The last stretch is more on urban footpaths but every junction, roundabout and pinch point was superbly marshalled and there was plenty of public support as well. I put a bit of a kick on over the last km (can't help myself) but generally stayed to my slow run pace and came in in a bog standard 56:38 - though achieved my 130 minute goal and a total of 14 miles

Unusually for 10k races it wasn't chip timed but used a barcode on the number (parkrun influence anyone?) They had an excellent free technical T-shirt as well which is good quality...much preferable to a medal in my opinion!

After some post race chat and a random meeting with the Butcher family from my own parkrun I was home by 10.45......just in time for a big fry and justifying the early start.

Overall I'd deffo recommend this race......and trust me, Danny's not paying me for the plug (I did ask ;)