As we gathered on the start line at Warwick racecourse
the sun started to peep out from the clouds and I hoped it would stay, just
enough to take the chill out of the air.
Sadly it didn’t, but at least temperatures weren’t too bad (not like two
years ago when I last ran this race) and luckily the wind had also
dropped. The hooter sounded and we were
away, carefully avoiding the speed humps in the first few hundred metres. I found myself in the lead group and lying
first female; however, this didn’t last long, as we turned right and up a short
hill past my office I was overtaken by another lady, Jane Evans, who was going
like a steam train! I did manage to pull
her back on the next downhill section, but she then pulled away again after
about 2 miles and that was the last I saw of her!
I’d been suffering from tight quads and really heavy legs
in training for the last few days and, although they actually felt fine when I
was warming up, they began to start complaining again around the 4 mile
mark. I dug deep and tried to remember some
of my ‘positive phrases’ from the sports psychology sessions I had with Stuart
Chambers at Athletic Mind Performance Coaching.
The advantage I had (or possibly disadvantage!) was that I know the
route like the back of my hand as I train on those same roads week in, week
out. I still found it hard work though,
and my recent lack of hill training post-injury was very apparent. I know that to many of my trail running ultra-distance
friends this course would be considered flat, but to me, in my current state of
fitness, the rolling Warwickshire countryside felt positively mountainous! The good thing about it being a local race,
though, is the amount of support I had all round the course. I think there must have been people shouting
for me by name in every mile of the route, including my dad who managed to see
me at both the 7-mile mark in Beausale and just before 12 miles in
Hampton-on-the-Hill! If any of you are
reading this – thank you – it makes a massive difference and I really
appreciate it.
Resisting the temptation to stop off at home for a quick
cuppa at the 10-mile mark, I continued to keep pushing as hard as I could. Whilst I knew Jane was long gone in front I
always go into races to give my absolute best, and there were still plenty of
men around to give me a good race! The
last mile was about the only downhill section of the course (or so it seemed!) and
I actually felt quite strong. I finished
2nd lady (37th overall, out of 1657 finishers) in a time
of 84.21, which I was happy enough with.
Les (my coach) and I had set a target of running inside 85 minutes so I’m
pleased I managed to achieve that, especially I wasn't thinking about split times at all during the race. Les
said afterwards that he had predicted, in his head, 84.21!! I’ll believe you this time Les, but you’ll
have to write your predictions down in future!
I’d like to say a huge well done to Jane – she absolutely flew round,
setting a massive PB, and was looking in awesome shape. A big well done and thank you must also go to
the British Heart Foundation for putting on a superbly organised race, and to
all the volunteers who helped at water stations etc.
Considering my current state of fitness as I return from
injury, and the fact this was my longest race since last June, I’m happy with
my performance today. I still broke the
old course record set last year (85.24) by just over a minute, and the pleasing
thing in terms of seeing how my training is going is that my last mile was as
quick as my first (both 6.09). So,
despite slowing on the hilly section in the middle, I still had the strength
and endurance to finish well. Today’s
race has given me confidence that things are definitely moving forward in the
right direction and I’m now looking forward to the next challenge.
Approaching the finish
