Preparation had been going swimmingly last week until I got a phonecall from Bev (our 2nd fastest) to say I'd been promoted from 'spectator and chief bag-minder' to running anchor-leg on the 'A' team at the National XC Relays. To quote '.....no pressure Julie, but me (Bev) and Rach (our fastest) want a team, everyone else has let us down'.
We'd had 2 teams entered, so this represented a 2/3rds drop-out rate in a week, bad but not as bad as the men who couldn't get anyone to run. So, mindful of my trauma at the National Vet Road Relays, I made sure that my spikes were polished to sharp points to ensure I got to the front of the holding pen and stayed at the front. Sharp, pointy spikes didn't do me much good when running though, I managed to drop the team from 12th position to 50th!
And so to Sunday. I have to admit that the organizers had upped a gear from the last time I did this race in 2004 (my first Half Marathon, 2hr12mins). We now had On-line entry, Chip-timing, Shuttle Buses from Car Park to Start/Finish, Secure Bag Storage; the whole thing had a much more professional feel to it. It was a new 2 lap course in '05 and having read some of the reviews from the previous '05 & '06 races on the Runner's World site, they appeared to have taken on-board some of the constructive criticism. However, one thing I did notice was that they forgot to include instructions with the chip and the velcro strap. I'd had to wear one the day before, so sat smuggly watching the puzzled looks as the assembled runners tried to decide what to do with them. This quandary finally filtered through to the bloke with the microphone '..... it goes round your ankle and not your wrist or your neck'.
The race was an undulating course (my mile split times prove it!) along cycle paths and through two parks, not entirely 'traffic-free' if you count pedestrians, pushchairs, kids on bikes, dogs, ducks etc. Well marshalled, accurate mile markers (except for the 9th), frequent water stations and I got to check the car was ok twice as we ran past the car park on the 4th and 11th mile. For my efforts I got a medal, a mug (much more useful than a t-shirt), two bananas, a bottle of water, and two sachets of arnica gel - which I applied liberally to my arms which were strangely more sore than my legs when I finished.
Finally my vital statistics: I managed a pb of 1:55:52, placed 375 out of a total of 587 finishers. Over 800 had entered, so that's a lot of no-shows on the day. I was 59th female out of 165, and 26th oldish-bird (v35-44) out of 58. Although being used to turning up on my own to run races, it was an odd feeling running in a race where you don't recognise the local 'vests'. I did however spot what I thought was a 'Dark Peak' one, a perusal of the results confirmed this. So there you go - small world!
The Tooth Fairy
Julie also made mincemeat of my challenge for her to run her half at a faster pace than I ran my full marathon. I think the lads are going to have to up the miles!
Ed
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