Greenway 10K - the reality :-)

After a very stormy day, the evening seemed to want to continue in the same vein......  Whilst it wasn't raining when we left home, by the time we'd driven the 3 miles to the Spenborough Running Track where the event started, it was spitting.  Luckilly, such professional support crews as ours have umbrellas so that was OK!

The signing on was quick and easy, the pinning on of numbers went without mortal injury and there wasn't even a queue for the ladies' loo!  Good start :-)

We all headed down from the clubhouse to the Greenway as the rain started to fall, did team photos (the most important part!) and lined up for the start.  There were only about 100 runners and I was suddenly worried that I might come last.....  OH GOD!  With a running club event such as this, most of the competitors are somewhat more proficient and rapid than my good self!  Sam fought her way towards the front, and I made my way towards the back with my head down.  Paul (bless him) stayed with me.  Some instructions were read out at the front but we couldn't hear them and then all of a sudden, we were running! 

The Greenway is 7 miles of disused railway line which runs from Ravensthorpe to Low Moor, and has been converted into a public footpath.  It's lovely, and I often train on it so I knew what to expect.  Low Moor is poorly named - it should be High Moor - every bloody milimetre of it from Ravensthorpe to the end is up a slight incline.... I always enjoy running back down it!
So off I went!  Paul disapeared off like 10 men with a grin and a little wave, a few people passed me, and I was concentrating hard on trying to breathe and run.  The first kilometer is always the worst; getting your breathing right, sorting out your pace and becoming comfortable with the conditions; especially when setting off uphill.   The first km marker flashed past, I was settled and (thank God!) I could still hear a couple of sets footsteps behind me - and I was determined that they wouldn't bloody overtake me!  As I slogged on uphill, I saw that I was very slowly gaining on a couple of people, so I made a determined effort to overtake them.  The running gurus say that you should imagine that they have a magnet on them which you are drawn to - so there I was, lumbering along, thinking about magnetism....... which, by passing 4 other runners, occupied me for about the first 3.5km! 
All of a sudden, I saw the leading runner approaching me coming back!  Hell he was motoring and I gave him a clap!  Then my brain went into "maths" mode (it often does when I'm running!) and I was trying to work out how fast he must be going if I'd passed him at around 3.5km - he had therefore done 6.5 ish km, I do 6 roughly minute kms so it must be about 22 mins in and..........  A cry of "SAL"! interrupted my calculations, as I looked up and saw Sam speeding towards me, closely persued by Paul.  Both took the time to give me beautiful smiles and great words of encouragement, and I jealously continued my uphill slog thinking "lucky beggers, they're on the downhill now!". 
Before I could resume the maths, I heard distant bellows of "COME ON SAL", "GO SAL", "WELL DONE SAL", I looked up and there were Graham and Alex at the 4.8km water station clapping, shouting, whisteling and cheering me on!  I'd forgotton that they said they were going to try and do a bit of a Colin McRae after the start and attempt to find a place further up the course to see us run, and it was such a welome and uplifting sight!  I managed a grin and a wave and made it happily to the 5km marker and turned around for the blessed downhill half of the race! 

I stopped at the water station and took a gulp of the wet stuff, but by this time, the wet stuff was also coming out of the sky again.  Big, slow, meaningful raindrops.  I didn't mind, I was hot and my hair was already a mess!  I then resumed my calculations about the winning time (and reached the correct conclusion of 33 minutes!), which distracted me for a couple more kms.  By now it was getting darker and more miserable, and I felt very sorry for the shivering marshalls.  I got some banter going as I passed them all, and this and approaching finishing line got me to 9km.  As I saw the last km marker, I started to count seconds because I wanted to start my sprint finish 2 minutes from the end.  I did have my fancy Baby G watch on (Andy McNab wears a Baby G so I'm sure mine makes me look equally cool and would be hugely helpful if I ever had to walk out of the desert under fire!) but unfortunately, due to my advancing years, I can't acutally read the bloody numbers on it any more, so that was a complete waste of time - note to self - next time forget the fashion, go for visibility!  So I counted 240 seconds and started to speed up.  I could just see all of the people at the end, and as I got nearer the finish line, there was even more bellowing of encouragement, as the already impressive voices of our support crew were joined by Sam and Paul who had both finished and were waiting to cheer me across the line! 

I'd done it but I was blowing!  God that was hard!  Sam brought me a very welcome bottle of water which I necked in one, Graham came to give me a well done kiss and I just stood there trying to get my breath.  I asked Sam and Paul how they had done, and Sam said she thought she was slow.  They had also just been listening to lots of other people saying the same thing.  Baby G's conclusion (verified with Graham's glasses) was that I was just under the hour, making me slow too, but Paul was happy with his 48 minute time, albeit a bit flushed from trying to keep up with Speedy Sam! 
The official results put Sam and Paul at 48 mins (yes, a bit slow for Sam but good for Paul), and me at 59:49 - slow for me too.  I felt that I was going alot better, and it was alot harder than the Hull 10K, in which I bettered this time by just under 2 mins...... and I came 99th out of 107 runners.  At least not last! 
Sam & I held the inevitable post-mortem over coffee and reached the conclusions (or formed the excuses) that a) It was 3 days after we'd walked 26.2 miles (I'll write that up soon!); b) It was an evening race which is hard to fuel up for, c) we'd both been busy all day so were tired, d) we are morning people anyway; e) It was sh1te weather and e) 3 miles constant uphill is hard work!
Sam says that she was "slow" (everything is relative!) because she got her tactics wrong, but I really don't know what I could have done differently............. Ah well, bank it and move on!
Am I still smiling?  Yes, of course, and very much looking forward to the very different and busy atmosphere of the Race for Life in Bradford on Sunday morning!
The Spen Valley Greenway 10K was organised by Spenborough Athletics Club, and was a very friendly and well organised event - thanks to all who gave their time!  http://www.spenac.co.uk/