Saturday 28 April 2012

Garmin Forerunner At Last

Hurrah, I have finally managed to swap my ex-display Garmin Forerunner 305 that Halfords tried to fob me off with as new for the Garmin Forerunner 405.  I now just need to learn how to use the damned thing and seeing as tonight I can't even work out how to turn it on, I am guessing it's going to be a very steep learning curve!  I am hoping that once it is fully charged all will become clearer.

Heddington Hill and Other Bits

First of all, yet me again apologise that I have not updated my blog all week; for the life of me I cannot fathom out why I cannot get a few minutes together of an evening to update this thing.  I guess life really does get in the way sometimes.  Oh well, I'm here now so on we go:

Monday:  Not much to report for today, I did a shorter morning run as Monday's a nursery day so I have to get the boys ready to get out the door by 7.25am so a long run is not really feasible.  Felt pretty tired all day but think that was just the weekend catching up with me.

Tuesday:  No nursery today so I did the longer run that I discovered last week.  At least today I knew exactly where I was going and it really is a very nice run.  Took me just under 45 minutes so I do think it probably is around 4 miles as there is a very stinky uphill climb about a third of the way in which does slow me down somewhat.  The club run tonight was a 'race' of sorts.  It's called the 'Heddington Hill Climb' and basically it's a mile climb up the side of what, to me, felt like the alps.  However, it actually starts off in a small village called Heddington and goes up towards Roundway Down (where a famous battle took place in 1643).  It is a steep climb and, quite frankly, it was bloody hard work.  There was eleven of us in total and I came in ninth ....... sounds not so bad until I admit to you that the tenth and eleventh placed runners won't be seeing their 70th birthdays again!  Here is a link so you can see the elevation details.  My stats are:

Time: 10:56

You can see how I struggle with hills as at the Corsham 10k I must've been averaging 9 minute miles to complete in the time so by adding a hill I am 2 minutes slower.  Guess I must try harder (oh, and that is a photo of Roundway Down at the top of this post).

Wednesday: Weather this week has been atrocious but I still struggled out of bed at 5.30am so that I could do the longer run again.  The rain was lashing, the wind was howling but off I set.  Ran about 200 metres and realised the dog wasn't behind me.  Called him but no sign.  Retraced my steps and found him huddling on the front door step; so much for vicious Staffies, the dog is a bloody wimp.  Still, I enjoyed the run even if he didn't want to go.  The rain does make the going pretty horrid underfoot as most of the run is across grass fields.  I can't imagine my trainers are going to last much longer with the soaking they receive every day, I am just waiting for the glue to give up hold!

Thursday:  Shorter run this morning as it's intervals at the club once again.  The dog decided to join me today and you could tell he hadn't been out the day before as he was full of running.  Intervals tonight consisted of 8 x 2 minute runs around the field.  We all started together, the trainer blew the whistle and off we set.  The idea was to get as far as possible in two minutes.  Then a minute's rest and back to the start with the aim of getting there within the two minutes.  A minute's rest and then rinse and repeat for another three times.  Again the idea on the second and subsequent runs was to get as far as you had on the first run but I'm afraid I didn't manage it; I stopped around 20 yards short on my second run and then another 20 yards short between my second and third runs.  On my fourth run I did get as far as I did in my third attempt!  Again, something I found really difficult, I have absolutely no speed to speak of and I just cannot seem to persuade my body to keep up the pace.  However, on the last leg of the last run I was advised to treat it as though it was the finish sprint to a race and to run it as fast as I possibly could.  I took the advice seriously and literally gave it my all and was amazed to be told by the trainer that I completed the last leg 25 seconds faster than on the run out!

Friday:  Although today was a nursery day I thought I would risk doing the longer run again as the weather was actually pretty nice and I thought I ought to make the most of it.  The dog did agree to run with me although in some ways I wish he hadn't as he was a pain throughout.  The run is all off-road and I guess because of the time of day it is there is loads of wildlife around.  This mostly consists of deer, pheasants and rabbits all of which Rommel enjoys chasing.  He kept disappearing into the fields after something or other and because he was constantly out of sight I had to keep stopping to ensure he could find me / catch up again.  This made the run very stop / start and consequently it was not that enjoyable.  The down side of taking the dog on all these runs is how fit he is getting; only a few weeks ago it was all he could do to keep up with me, he certainly didn't have any excess energy to run after anything! 

Monday 23 April 2012

Race Report - Corsham St George's 10k

Well the day dawned bright and early for my second 10k.  Unfortunately I probably had one of the worst lead-ups to a race that it is possible to have.  This is my sleeping pattern for the last few nights:

Friday:  Get up 5.40am - bed 3.45am

Saturday:  Get up 8.00am - bed 12.30am

Sunday:  Get up 5.45am

So a grand total of 9.30 hours sleep in a 48 hour period - I know it's only a 10k but still hardly the ideal run up to a race.

Corsham is a very popular run, it had over 700 entrants last year so I was expecting big things from it.  It did not start well.  We got to Corsham okay but absolutely no signs for the race start were to be seen.  We did see several 'caution runners' signs so we knew we must be in the right area but we ended up having to ask a local to interpret the rather hopeless map that I had been sent with my entry confirmation.  Black mark to the organisers me thinks.  However, I must admit that the rest of the race was faultless and a big contrast to Bowood in that it seemed much more slick and professionally organised.  A DJ from BBC Wiltshire radio was there entertaining the crowds, there were organised warm-up routines hosted by a local gym and, the most important thing for me and what attracted me to the race in the first place, chip timing.  Because I'm a middling runner, I don't want to start too near the front as I don't want to get in the other runner's way but this does mean it can take me 30+ seconds to go through the start gate and therefore my race timing will always be out; I appreciate that this might only be less than a minute or so, but it still upsets me that the timing is not accurate.  With chip timing your individual time is recorded as you go through the start and finish regardless of how long it may take you to get to the start.  The other aspect that I thought showed great organisation on the running club's part was the use of pacers.  Because it is such a well attended race, I guess the start could easily turn into a bun fight if people just randomly place themselves on the start line.  By having four pacers (men holding little wooden signs) one at 45 minutes, one at 50 minutes, 55 minutes and 58 minutes this allowed the runners to place themselves at the start according to their expected finish time.  I stood right next to the 55 minute pacer as that was the target I had set myself and although a few people did overtake me right at the start of the race it clearly worked as I was quickly able to get into my stride and not having to overtake loads of people early on.  It was certainly a contrast with Bowood where I ended up starting too near the back and then being held up for a mile or so until I could start to overtake. 

I clearly didn't read the race details properly as I was expecting some of the race to be off-road but it was exclusively a road race.  The course was circular although the first and last ½ km were run on the same route.  I would describe the course as undulating as there were several hills but nothing too hard to tackle.  The good people of Corsham certainly turned out in force to support their race as there were significant crowds lining the route in addition to two brass bands!  This definitely helped to lift the spirits and provide a boost just when needed. 

I found it a challenging race and I can't say I really enjoyed it  but that is probably due to the fact that I was so tired rather than anything against the race itself.  I started off well and was pretty happy when I managed to leave the 55 minute pacer behind at around the 2km mark.  However, he did eventually catch me up again and in fact ended up being around 50 yards or so ahead.  I was not at all happy about this as I really wanted to get sub-55 minutes so I bucked my ideas up and put a bit more effort in and overtook him again on the home straight.  I even managed a sprint finish and overtook several runners on the run-in; if I'm honest I wish I had kicked for home a few hundred metres earlier as I still had the tiniest amount left in the tank at the finish.  But, these are my stats:

Time:  54:57
Position = 436 out of 724
Category Position: 39th out of 115

How happy am I that in my category (Female Vet 35-44 Years) there were only 38 runners better than me; and I was better than 76 other runners!!

All in all it was a pretty good race and all runners got a goody bag and a commemorative Diamond Jubilee mug to celebrate.  I would definitely do the race again next year as I think I could better my time with a bit more of a concerted effort but I am very still very pleased I got in under the 55-minute mark.

I now need to find me a race for the month of May.

Sunday 22 April 2012

Catch Up ......

Oh blimey, another catch-up day but in my defence we have been exceptionally busy over the last few days.  Today I did my second 10k race but I am going to write up about that in another post.  Anyway, catching up:

Thursday:  Didn't run with Rommel this morning as I was anticipating going out with the running club tonight and doing interval training.  It wasn't until later in the afternoon that I remembered Other Half was taking Son One to the circus so I was going to miss running club as I was going to have to stay home with Son Two.  I was really annoyed with myself at the missed opportunity. 

Friday: Half a day at work today as it's Super Supper Club night!  Took Rommel for our early morning run, half day work (finishing at 12 - hurrah) and then took Rommel out again in the afternoon before setting off for Weymouth.  We had a lovely run, we did get lost a couple of times but ended up finding a great off-road loop that I reckon is probably around the 4-mile mark (although, with getting lost, we did around 6 miles).  I should be able to use this route in the mornings now instead of a straight up and down as I find that type of run exceptionally boring. 

Super Supper Club was as great as usual but this time made even more memorable by the return of our founder member who we haven't seen for 7 years since she emigrated to Wales.  It was a fantastic but very late night .... bed time didn't arrive until 3.30am and I was awake again at 8.00am so the drive back was a bit of a strain.  However, the night made the drive worth it and we have been super organised and not only have the next date booked in but the next three, culminating in the Christmas night.  Oh, and SSC is going on tour in September as we are all visiting Lindsey in Wales.  Very excited.

Saturday: Got back to Wiltshire around lunch time and then had to set off again at 5.00pm for another night out; I told you this week was all go.  Got back around midnight and with getting up again with Son Two at 5.30am, this did not bode well for Sunday's race - more on that later.

On other news this week, I got my Garmin Forerunner 305 and I was uber excited.  Obv.  Several price comparison sites pointed me in the direction of Halfords as being the cheapest place to get one at £129.  The only store that appeared to have any in stock was Taunton and, as luck would have it Mum was going to Taunton that very day.  I reserved it, Mum bought it and then sent it to me so that it arrived Wednesday.  I didn't get to open it until I got home from work and it was with great excitement that I opened the packing.  My first thought was that the box didn't look in that good condition for a new item but put it down to it having being delivered by Royal Mail.  However, on investigating further ie. opening the box, my suspicions were raised even higher and finally confirmed when I turned the unit on.  They were trying to fob me off with an ex-display!!  The watch had clearly been used, it had a load of running stats on there and had even been set up with the user's personal details.  To say that I was livid would be putting it mildly but as it was gone 8pm by now there was very little I could do about it.  Thursday morning found me ready to do battle with Halfords as there was no way I was prepared to pay full price for an ex-display and no way I was going to return it all the way to Taunton for an exchange / refund.  I have to say the wind was knocked out of my sails a bit when the manager proved to be very reasonable and promised to identify a brand new item and then have it couriered to my local store for an exchange.  However, after several phone calls backwards and forwards, it turns out that Halfords have no brand new stock in hand and, as a discontinued item, no way of getting any more in.  Therefore, they have either offered to refund me or I can have the next model, the Garmin Forerunner 405cx, for the same price.  Really torn about what to do, the 405cx's reviews are not as good as the 305 but I think most people are complaining about the touch screen on it and I'm not sure the complaints are justified.  Whilst I'm pretty pissed off with Halfords trying to fob me off with what is clearly not a new model I'm happy with the service they are offering now that the problem has been bought to their attention.  Having said that I have learnt a valuable lesson in that, in future, when I buy an electrical item I want to collect it myself as checking the contents of the box would've been the first thing I did before leaving the vicinity of the shop.  These things are sent to try us eh?

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Rain, Rain, Go Away ......

Well I have decided to do a short run every morning before work and take the dog with me.  This kills two birds with one stone - it increases my weekly mileage and gets the dog exercised.  I am only able to do this as Other Half is working in Bradford on Avon for the next couple of months so he doesn't have to leave at some ridiculous time of the morning which is what he has been doing up until now.  So far I have done the same course which is an up and back along a cycle track - it's not the most exciting of runs but takes around 30 minutes so I'm guessing I'm covering about 3 miles.  Unfortunately since I started this new regime (which admittedly was only a couple of days ago) it has pissed it down so we've been getting very wet .... the first day I virtually had to drag the dog round with me as he's not keen on the rain.  I am hoping that doing 3 or 4 miles before work each day will help with the weight loss and toning as I am still intending to do my 3 evening runs and I'm thinking about starting do do some sort of interval training (hill repeats?) on a Saturday too. 
Rommel (the dog) is certainly starting to look and get fit; he's pretty happy on runs up to 6 miles now as long as he has access to water along the way.  He was kibble fed and starting to look a bit porky a few weeks ago so I cut his food down but I think I may have cut it back too much as he's certainly looking pretty lean now.  I've been researching raw feeding for a while and at the weekend decided to take the plunge so for breakfast he's now having a chicken leg quarter which he is loving; watching him chew through meat and crunch through bone is a sight to see.  He's still being fed kibble of an evening but only until the bag runs out (at £50 for 15kg I feel loathe to throw it away).  Today I have bought him half a beef heart so I'm going to mix that with his kibble and see what he makes of it.  I'm pleased I've taken the decision to move him across to raw, he certainly approaches his chicken leg with far more enthusiasm than he ever does his kibble!

Bought the doughnuts for work today in celebration of my birthday.  We are only a small team (14 people) and we have two sets of twins and birthdays on the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th April ... seems a bit spooky to me.  The weather was not kind to me at all, I thought I would manage to get to town and back in-between showers but that was not to be.  I had to pop into the curtain shop for some cord to repair our roman blind and it started to heave down as I was in there; the shop assistant lent me her spare umberella to get back to work, how lovely was that of her?  This is one of the reasons we are looking to move to Devizes in the next 6 months or so, I cannot imagine anyone being that thoughtful in Calne!

Monday 16 April 2012

It's My Party ......

Well I am now another year older if not necessarily wiser.  Sunday saw my 41st birthday come round, where does the time go?  Quick catch up of the weekend: -

Saturday: In anticipation of the meal out that we had planned for the evening, thought I had better take the dog out for a bit of a power-walk and work a few hundred calories off.  Six miles later both dog and I were suitably knackered.  The evening found us in Devizes trying to find a restaurant that we had identified on-line earlier in the day ..... we never found it although we walked up and down in the freezing cold for half hour or so.  However, we found another Italian restaurant which at 8.15pm was heaving which I always think is a good sign.  Managed to get a table booked for 9pm so went to have a cheeky G&T in the pub next door.  Finally, because by this point I was absolutely starving, we were shown to our table and the menu was studied with much enthusiasm.  There was so much to tempt me that it was actually really difficult to come to a decision but finally decided to go with prawns sauteed with garlic butter, lemon and white wine sauce followed by roasted fillet of pork stuffed with Parma ham, basil, pesto, sun blushed tomatoes in a red wine sauce and, to top it all off, a pudding comprising of orange Chantilly cream, layers of puff pastry and choux buns filled with creme patisserie.  The food was absolutely gorgeous and if you are ever in the North Wiltshire area I can thoroughly recommend this place - Isolabella.  Oh, and the restaurant we never found?  Turns out that one is run by his wife and having been given directions to it we will be paying that a visit in the next few months.

Sunday:  My birthday!  After a lovely lie-in I was woken by the smell of frying bacon and came downstairs to be greeted by bacon and egg muffins - heaven.  A lazy Sunday morning was followed by a six(ish) mile run in the afternoon.  I did a repeat of the run that I did with the running club on Tuesday and I must say it's a really nice run - nicer than I remembered it in fact.  It's also very good for the dog as a high percentage is off road and the road bits have very wide verges so he doesn't have to pound along on the tarmac.  However, I am sure the run barely scratched the surface of the amount of calories I consumed Saturday night and Sunday morning!   

For my birthday I got money from my Mum and my Nana and I am going to be putting it towards one of these - Garmin Forerunner 305.   I cannot wait to receive it - I know when it gets here I'm going to be so excited that a little bit of wee may just escape if I'm not careful.  It's going to be such a boon for me as most of my running is off-road which makes it virtually impossible to map easily so that I can tell how far I have run.  This should do all that and more with ease.  

Other Half has bought me a riding lesson / hack which is also terribly exciting - I haven't ridden since I left my job working with hunters and eventers in 1996 to become an office-jockey instead.  My plan once I have lost all my weight was to take up riding again but at £25 per hour I'm not sure how feasible that is going to be - many moons ago I was a riding instructor and lessons were £10ph so prices have sure gone up.  

Monday: And back to reality ..... pretty boring day, work is still taking time to establish which just makes the day drag.  However, I managed to get to my boxercise class and that was fab - it sure does work the arms and core.  Dreading Slimming World on Wednesday, my diet this week has been pretty poor so I have a feeling that is going to be reflected on the scales.  

Saturday 14 April 2012

Will I Ever Keep Up?

Can't believe I've not updated my blog since Monday - this working full time sure does take it out of you.  Oh well, here goes:

Tuesday:  Out running with the club tonight and it turned into a mixture of road / footpaths.  Really nice run but very hilly and you all know how I feel about hills!  Managed to do most of them okay, but one of them just kept going on and on so I was forced to come back to a walk a couple of times.  I was advised to try and run it with little steps which I can see the advantage of doing (in terms of the fact that it's better for the muscle groups) however, I was actually able to walk it faster than the person who was doing the little steps!  I must say I really like the Tuesday runs, they are very much at my pace (well, some of the club members are, others leave me in their wake) and it's nice discovering new places where I can walk the dog as such a high percentage of the run is off-road.

Wednesday:  Not much to report for today, day off from training.  I am enjoying The Apprentice once again although by Other Half has gone off it.  I do see his point, it's the same tasks every year and pretty much the same candidates (to be honest I think they just recycle the same ones) but it's just great seeing how the 'best business brains' can be reduced to little more than primary school children when they have to work out costs and profit margins.  I would've thought these were pretty fundamental skills to running your own business but I never fail to be amazed how something so simple can seem to cause so much anguish.

Managed to lose half a pound at Slimming World, pretty happy with that although I'm most happy about the fact that I didn't put any back on of what I lost last week.

Thursday:  Club running tonight, intervals once again.  We did something called Anti Madison - basically this involves being paired up with a partner and a football field.  The idea is that you run one way round the field and your partner the other way.  One of you starts off sprinting and the other jogging and then when you pass each other you swap over ie. the person who was sprinting now jogs and vice versa.  Then when you pass each other again, you swap once more ..... and keep following this pattern for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes you change direction and run around the field the other way.  It was surprisingly hard especially for the second 10 minutes - I have to admit I'm not sure that looking at me you could tell whether I was meant to be on the jogging section or the sprinting as by this point I pretty much only had the one speed! 

Friday:  Body conditioning at lunch time today, it's a pretty good all-round work out which is not so high impact that I end up sweating like a pig as I couldn't face the thought of having to shower before returning to work. 

Monday 9 April 2012

You Live and Learn

Well, as today was typical Bank Holiday weather ie. wet and windy, I decided to do the run on the treadmill at the gym; the first time I have run on a treadmill for the best part of four years.  Rather than run for a particular time, I thought I would see what I could manage a 10k in.  The other day I worked out that for my 10k race I was running at an average of 10.7kph (kilometres per hour), my fastest 5k at 10.9kph and the one mile time trail in 12.6kph.  So, I set the speed at 10.7kph and off I went.  I seemed to be travelling pretty well so I decided to up the speed to 11kph and again I managed to keep that pace up for a few kilometres.  However, by 6.5k I was really struggling so had to drop the pace down to 10kph and, at one point, I even had to come back to a walk for a few hundred feet.  Going back up to a run, I was only averaging 9.5-9.8kph for the last 3k or so.  Running on a treadmill is much harder than I remember it being.  I'm not sure why, I thought it was actually meant to be easier as the treadmill takes your foot from underneath you but I found it bloody hard work.  Thinking about it it's probably a combination of the heat (I was sweating like a pig by 5k), the boredom factor and the unrelenting fixed pace.  So, it turns out that rather than it being easier, I was actually slower than when running my hilly 10k!  Results for the treadmill:

Distance = 10k
Time = 58:10

Next time I think I will set the pace at a less ambitious 10.5kph and see how I get on from there. 

On Saturday I got Other Half to drop me off in Yatesbury again and I ran back with the dog.  I did consult the map before I left as last time I did this run I ended up going a bit wrong and didn't find the bridlepath I wanted.  So this time, I double checked the map before setting off .... and didn't find the bridlepath I wanted! Treble checking the map when I got home I think I have pinpointed where I went wrong so hopefully it'll be third time lucky.  However, it was still a really nice run, the going was perfect and we covered around 5-6 miles so all good (and the dog still enjoyed himself).

Friday 6 April 2012

Row, Row, Row Your Boat ....

Went to the gym yesterday after work as thought I would have a run on the treadmill rather than risking my throat outside.  Unfortunately all three of the treadmills were taken.  The plan was to run a 10k but with only the rowing machines available, I decided to row a 10k instead!  Surprisingly, I managed to row the 10k in pretty much the same time as I run.  The split was:

5k - 28:18
10k - 58:58

So only around 3 minutes slower than my run on Sunday!  Positive from today was that I actually managed to keep rowing constantly for the full 10k (which considering I haven't used a rowing machine in 4 years is pretty good going I think).  Slight negative was that my second 5k was not as fast as my first (by 2 mins 22 secs) but that gives me something to aim for next time.  Really enjoyed the rowing although it has resulted in today having muscle aches in places I didn't even know I have.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Three Stone and Counting

Huh-bloody-rah, I managed to lose six, yes you read that right, six pounds this week!  That makes up for the fact that I haven't lost anything the last two weeks.  Total weight loss is now 3 stone 3.5 pounds so only one more stone to go.  Time for a new measure me thinks:

Weight: 10st 9lbs (13.5lbs loss since last measure)
Bust: 40 inches (2 inch loss)
Waist: 32 inches (2 inch loss)
Hips: 36 inches (2 inch loss)

Since starting Slimming World, I have lost the following amount of inches so far:

Bust: 6 inches
Waist: 8 inches
Hips: 8 inches

That's a whole lot of inches!  Really pleased with how it is going, I did think that I had lost this week as I have been much more conscious about what I have been eating especially as I have been keeping the food diary. 

Did my first workout at the gym tonight, I must admit to keeping it on the easy side as my throat is still very sore so I only did 15 minutes on the cross-trainer but then I did do a nice selection of the weight machines.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy working out, if my cold isn't any better by tomorrow then I shall probably do my run on the treadmill as the weather is so damned cold it just makes my throat worse.

Here's to my last stone ........

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Drip, Drip, Cough, Cough

Bloody hell, I've only gone and caught a cold haven't I?  Feel really crappy today, my throat seems to be full of razors it's so sore.  I was meant to be going running with the club tonight but gave it a miss as it hurts to breathe normally let alone when gasping for breath.  I did however have my gym induction at work so I can now use the gym whenever I want.  I think it's a great facility as it's open to me 24/7 and it has a good range of equipment - certainly as good as you would find in your average gym and the best bit of all is that it's free.
Yesterday I did my first boxercise class and it was great, really enjoyed it.  It must've done me some good as today my arm and side muscles are aching.  I've been really good with my food all week (I was advised to keep a food diary and that has kept me on track) so I hope at tomorrow's Slimming World I get my reward.

Sunday 1 April 2012

Race Report - Bowood 10k

Well today was race day.  The day dawned bright and sunny, absolutely perfect conditions for the run, in fact I couldn't have asked for better.  Got to the race around 20 mins early to collect my number (693) and then followed a 10 minute queue for the loo.  Wasn't sure what to do about the start, people were queueing by the time I was ready for the off and I didn't know what he etiquette was.  Should I 'push' in somewhere near the front or just place myself at the back of the queue?  I ended up going to the back and, with one race now under my belt, I won't be doing that again.  The claxon sounded and we were off .... well, the front runners were off, I barely managed to shuffle into a jog as I had a wall of people in front of me who were impossible to pass.  The only other race I have ever competed in was a 5k Race for Life around 7 years ago and the start was exactly the same for that so I'm wondering if this is the case for all races?  People always seem to set off much slower than I expect and, due to the nature of this particular race it was pretty much impossible to pass them within the first mile or so.  In all honesty it probably didn't really make that much difference to my overall time but it would've been nice to get into my own stride quicker.  The course started on tarmac and then turned into a trail (through woods) with a short downhill section - this was followed by the first of many uphill sections although this was probably the worst .... pretty steep and it kept on going.  Luckily by the time we got here (probably a mile or so in) the field had opened up and I was able to overtake other runners; this really helped to fire me up and encouraged me to keep on pushing.  The next few miles kept on through the woods, undulating but nothing too dreadful and then the last few miles were across open fields.  This wasn't too bad but then we ended up in this one field that had long grass and an annoying sideways slope so that we were running with one leg higher than the other - remarkably disconcerting.  This, for me, was by far the worst bit of the run and I was thankful when it was over even if the end bit of this section was another killer hill.  The final stretch was across parkland and then the last 100m on tarmac to encourage a race finish I assume.  Once I had managed to clear the field I actually managed to spend quite a lot of the run on my own which was very much to my liking.  Race result:

Time: 56:06
Position : 132 out of 240

Really, really happy with the fact that I finished in under an hour and finished pretty strongly.  I had saved a tiny bit up for a sprint finish but I had nobody in front of me that was near enough to catch and nobody behind me to keep at bay - hey ho.  The post-race banana and bottle of water that was provided was much appreciated.

I am really hooked on running and I cannot wait to do this race again next year to see if I can improve my time.  Looking back on the race I probably had a couple of opportunities where I could've stretched myself a bit but, not having raced before, I was worried about running out of steam so I tried to keep at a comfortable pace.  Two real positives from the race 1) I managed to run the whole thing and 2) I was far stronger on the uphill sections than I thought I would be and I managed to overtake lots of other runners going up and not have them overtake me at a later date.


Upon returning to the car, I found it covered in leaflets about future events and I think I've found my next race -  The St George's 10k in Corsham on Sunday 22nd April.  Bring it on!