As the title suggests the McCain 10k in Scarborough was a touch breezy, but then any coastal region on the North Sea in October is hardly going to be akin to the Bahamas. Never the less, running in chilly conditions is infinitely easier than in warm ones so the nip in the air was a welcome one as the pre-race preparations went ahead. I’ve not been doing much in the way of training of late due to a number of reasons, mainly I couldn’t be bothered but also work, darker evenings, being shattered, enjoying new things have got in the way.
A week after throwing myself round the Birmingham Half Marathon, running a 10k seemed like a bit of silly idea when all I wanted to do was sleep, but it was booked and I’m not one to turn down a race (never thought I’d hear myself say THAT) and to be honest, the end of the year is looming rather large in the mirror. In short, I needed the miles! An early start fueled by coffee and a bagel helped get the adrenaline flowing and before I realised what was happening, the jogging bottoms were off, bags stored in the Spa Complex and I was on the start line, nattering to other runners and trying to keep warm.
Being a slow plodder I started at the very back of the pens in the 70 minutes and over section, faffed with the Garmin, swore at the “warm up” lady and shuffled over the start line…and then it hit me. The old feeling, the grin spreading as my legs remembered what they were designed to do – I was a runner again. A slow one, but a runner no less. As we flowed down the road and into the town, running parallel to the sea I started to think about the race. It was a bittersweet feeling – mainly due to the muscle pulls but recent events are catching up, life is changing and this challenge is drawing to a close.
The miles slipped by, with a change in pace and wind direction. Running across the South Bay and into North Bay I was in step with a couple of other plodders and it helped to keep my pace up until we saw the first man on his way back in – at 22 minutes he was steaming ahead. All three of us turned and looked at his retreating back and said in unison “bloody hell!” – it will never cease to amaze me how quick some of these runners are! A welcome smile flashed past me and on I went, itching for the 5k marker. Through the sea front, up into the park, past the open air theatre and on to the Sea Life Centre. Suddenly the 5k marker was there…but we had to keep going. Much puzzlement and anguish…surely the 5k mark is the turn around point? Apparently not.
As we turned into the final 5k and homeward stretch the wind decided we weren’t working hard enough and picked up a stunning pace, smacking us in the face with a hefty dose of salt spray and fresh air. Gulping down as much air as possible while trying to maintain a decent (ish) pace is not easy so all that I could do was drop my shoulders, put my head down and keep going. A couple of hundred metres later I fell into step with the 2 girls I had been tracking the entire race and couldn’t resist giving a bit of a challenge in the form of saying “you don’t want to be beaten by the fat girl do you?” It had the desired effect – they picked up the pace and I picked up mine.
Checking my Garmin one last time as I rounded the final corner after trotting rather happily through the last town stretch I knew I could finish this comfortably within my self imposed cut off of 80 minutes. I was spurred on by some lovely marshals at the roundabout and the thought of warm jogging bottoms, coffee and fish and chips on the beach and seeing runners finished and giving me encouraging smiles and words made it a lovely last few hundred metres. Crossing the line at 75 minutes I was home – final chip timing had me finished in 75 minutes and 6 seconds, only a minute slower than my PB at Lymm all those months ago in April.
Tired but happy, salty and tousled and rather sweaty I broke into a grin and stretched. Another 6.2 miles down…and closer to completing the Madness. Thank you Scarborough – think I might be back next year; my most enjoyable 10k yet.
the200milemacmillanmadness 