Manchester 10k

I vowed that I was going to blog about this race, weather good or bad.  I hadn't raced a 'proper' race for a while where I knew it was going to really hurt for quite a long time,  this added to my pre-race nerves. 

 

I was feeling a bit down the week before, a combination of returning from Mallorca and returning to 12hr days and nights at work. The lack of quality rest I had enjoyed the previous week was kicking me in the ass and my confidence was suffering a bit.

The night before the race I tried all my usual keep calm tactics and enjoyed watching the highlights of the ITU World Triathlon Championships, early to bed!

 

Race morning came all too quickly,  starting with a rude awakening from my alarm! I looked outside,  then at the weather forecast,  it was going to be a hot one!  The weather man was not wrong on this occasion. Warming up pre race at 0930 it was clear the heat was going to be a factor and lots of the elite women were dousing themselves with water in an attempt to keep their body temperature down.  Not helped by the fact the race start was delayed due to some technical issues and it being transmitted live on BBC2.

 

Abi Bagshaw - Elite Athlete?!

The race was fast, and as predicted it hurt. I tried desperately hard to hang onto a group of 3 girls but unfortunately they were just too quick!  I found myself running the next 8km of the race on my own. I suffered between 6 and 8km where there is little crowd support and the course isn't particularly inspiring. 

 

I finished in 36:30, quite a bit outside my PB and was initially quite disappointed, but as I chatted to other runners everyone's times were slower than expected,  due to the combination of the heat and the wind. 

 

 

Combined Service Ladies



This race also incorporates an Inter-Area match between the Combines Services, The North, Wales and the Midlands.

 

You can read the full RAF report here.

 

I really enjoyed the experience in Manchester,  it is incredible to line up against some true legends of women's distance running. Tirunesh Dibaba defended her title, and won, adding this to a huge string of victories including 5 Olympic medals and a world record. I was thrilled to make it to the top 10 GB runners and made it onto the BBC billboard of GB ladies!

Race Report - Fradley 10k

Wakey Wakey legs...its road race time! 

Fradley is not really a very well known 10km, however it should be as it is a pretty quick, slightly undulating course. This year saw it being started by two ambassadors of the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust,  twins Helen and Carol Galashan did the honors, professionals in Diving and Gymnastics. For information on what the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust Fund does and what it supports and funds go to www.dkhlegacytrust.org

Organised by KP events, and apart from the eternal problem of not enough port-a-loos at running races (im sure this is something which subscribes to the n+1=perfect amount of loos equation) it was fairly snag free. Car parking could have been managed a bit better, but the marshaling and support was great. There were LOADS of spectators in the village which was really nice to see.

Sponsored by Florette (not really sure why?) I was a little disappointed there were not free lettuces' post race, however it is probably for the best as it was a pretty hot day. Amazing for March in fact, and a scorching 14 degrees! It makes it hard to dislike anything about it! 

Post race I had some much needed love applied to my calfs' by Lichfields sports medicine partners, and extremely reasonable £5.00 and lots of good information available, including a leaflet to take away with good stretching techniques. 

Goody Bag (the important bit!)
Bottle of water
post race bananas
A Florette patterned head-over
Kellogs cereal bar
Money off Florette coupon
Medal
High5 gel (personal fave) 

2014 Results can be found here;