Gosforth 10k 2011

I had a plan for this race, it was not to race. I wanted to run with better style, and I wanted to go off at a sensible pace, not at my usual unsustainable mad rush. It was a warm but windy and dull afternoon and it had rained through the day, with showers still around. I took myself off up the village to warm up, and spent a reasonable time doing so, but was slightly concerned that my legs felt dead. Still, on the line I knew the adrenaline would start flowing. The start was very sudden and I think many were caught off guard by it, but off we set. I had a pace I wanted to run at and it felt so slow, but I made myself ignore the women around me, ignore the men around me and settle into a rhythm at my target pace. I managed this fairly well, and also settled in behind a couple of lads as wind breaks.

At 2 and a bit miles the route turns off the main road, and the wind came onto our backs, but the route losses its overall downhill line and starts climbing suitably, this was where it started to hurt me more. After 3 miles I’d intended on trying to pick the pace up, seeing as how I had run much slower that I normally do in the first half, but all I could manage was a matched pace with the first half, until the last mile that is when I slowed and started really running in my usual bad style! The most amazing this was that after all this it seemed I was actually in first place and came in first lady – not what I was expecting and nearly 2 minutes slower than last year!!