A Wet Wallington 10K

Another Win But At What Cost

Dad, it's raining.

Rain, what rain?

Another prize.

Race no. 23 on what turned out to be a very wet night at Wallington Hall.

My day did not start well when I woke up with a sore achilles from nowhere. Treatment during the day involving ice and heat packs seemed to get rid of the problem, so Chris and I travelled to Wallington Hall in Northumberland for the 10K.

The start was roughly one mile up a hill from the hall. A downhill start thought I, " lets get to the front"

"GO" , said the starter and away I went. A glance at the Forerunner - 4.30 pace, yes that's just over four minute miling! 4.22, wow!. I was in a ridiculous fifth position! 5.34 - that's more like it. 5.45, ok, 5.09 - 6.10, obviously hit the bottom of the hill. 5.46, 5.22, dropping again.

With the left turn in sight I thought, " Ow, my achilles is hurting, should I stop?" With a possible pb on  and a first mile in 6.13,  no way.

Along a straight for another mile at 6.53 pace it was looking good, if painful. On sixteen minutes the course started climbing and continued do so so for another 24 minutes. Climbing into Scots Gap Chris finallly caught me, " push on", I said you are on for a PB.  I meanwhile was suffering a very painful achilles. The only thing keeping me going was the thought of going under 45 mins. for a challenge PB. Up and up climbed the road and more sensible runners who had kept to a reasonable pace were passing me.

Top of the climb in sight. Sharp left turn to the start and a mile to go. Could I get down to my starting pace? I hammered down that hill, but could I recapture that early pace? No. It was difficult to get it down to even 7.30, but I kept pushing as the pace got down to 7.07 for the 5 mile to 6 mile mark. Sharp left and into the Hall grounds and line for a finishing time of 45.59. We will have to look for a pb some other time.

The rain which had mostly held off during the race now became a deluge, driving most of the runners off to the cars and an early bath. Chris, I and Ivan Newton ( Tynedale Harriers), waited for the results and waited. Finally, Ivan gave up and went home. The presentation then started before a crowd of ten! Ivan was 1st V45 in 41.42 (16th place), Chris was 30th in 43.42, and I was 1st V65 in 45.59.

Today my achilles is bad and I am out of action, watch this space for my return.