After no run Friday or Saturday I was itching for a run today. I had kept up the core muscle exercises but no runs. A part of me really missed the regular run. The other part of me gave me a good slap to say I need some rest days! Ha ha!
Today was the Delapre Abbey 10k by Ultra Go Beyond events. The last time I went to one of their events I was running through parts of Irchester Forest I had never seen before and I've been there a number of times with the family. As the last event with them was so thoroughly entertaining and utterly tough I was looking forward to today knowing it wouldn't be a road race but a mixture of path's and field. So how did it go?
The morning started with drizzle. Driving to Northampton, the windscreen wipers were on all the way. I had towels and a complete change of clothes. After the soaking I had this week I was determined not to repeat the mistake of being unprepared.
I arrived in good time to pick up my T-shirt and chip. Topped up on High5 Zero then did a quick warm up jog to the start line. It was good to see Shon there. The last race I saw him at it was a 5k at Woburn Abbey and
We all started in stages, 10k first followed by half marathon then marathon.
I found the first lap fairly easy, I kept my pace even and not to fast knowing that I'd have to repeat this lap another 2 times. Repeating the lap felt pretty tough, its been a while since I ran in mud and soft grass and even though my legs and lungs felt good my ankles were feeling a bit rough. Lap 1 was a loop around the lake and back to the house, a shorter lap than the following 2 laps. Lap 2 went around the lake like the first lap and then out into the field in front of the main house. Lap 3, a repeat of lap 2, was thankfully helped along by a very friendly and entertaining fella. We had a very similar pace and we kept each other going for most of the first part of lap 3. In the second half of lap 3 this guy kept the encouragement coming that I pushed myself much harder than I would have done if I was running by myself. A huge thank you to this guy, I beat my last 10k PB this year by a whopping whole 3 minutes!!
After spending so much time running this week and getting such a good result this weekend I am planning to make sure I get lots of good runs in this week for the Ampthill Flitwick Flyers 10k next weekend. It will be the third time going round this course and I am totally looking forward to it.
TTFN
Hels
No comments:
Post a Comment