Bournville Leafy 10k Sunday 5 October 2008
Seemed like a good idea back in April when I got a text from Lurker to say that she and MarkL were taking over the organisation of this race but by the time race day came around I'd not raced for over 2 months and indeed had only trained 16 times in the previous 65 days The weather was atrocious and in fact it had rained so much overnight that the course had to be altered at the last moment to avoid an impassable section.
I did have my camera with me but even though it's waterproof I left it in the car. But this was my first race in my new club vest and I desperately wanted a photo of me wearing it. So I was really pleased to see Paul Foot braving the awful weather with his camera to hand. And I'm very grateful to him for sharing the photos below.
at the drinks station half way and approaching the finish
mark one and LJB1 working out the results and Lurker, her work done, gets warm again
I'd got there in plenty of time so was able to have a kind've a natter with Lurker whilst she handed out runners' numbers and a quick word with plodding hippo too.The pre-race briefing was outside in the Nasty
Weather and it began to dawn on me that the fact that this
race was partly off road had passed me by and that my pristine white
Saucony Jazz weren't going to be white or pristine for Very Much Longer!
I lined up in the mud beside plodding hippo who revealed
that she'd run 25 miles the previous day . . hmmmmm . .
I'd run 4½ and indeed this would be the first time
I'd run two days in succession since 6/7 August.
Despite the Rain That Hurts Your Head it felt good
to be back in a race again after a 2 month break coz of my illness and
I had low expectations but I still set off too fast
coz that's what you do in a race innit and quite soon it became a
pleasant waddle through the Sodden Leafy Woods of
Bournville with water ankle deep at times.
Anyway I got round in just under 55 minutes
which I reckoned wasn't so bad under recent
circumstances and the multi terrain element saved
me from scoring a pw for 10k phew!! And I did think
it was fun although I denied it when Lurker asked
me if I'd enjoyed it a nano-second after I crossed the line
mostly coz it was a silly time to ask!!
And yes there was chocolate in the
goody bag (with a
Bournville Harriers beanie and a gel) and no
. . there isn't any left!!
