Unfortunately I had to make the trip up to Leeds on my own, without mule support. However it gave me a chance to crack on with some Open University work and generally do girl things (a.k.a walk around Leeds shopping and trying a bazillion things on).
I stayed at the Radisson Blu, which is in a perfect location for the Leeds-Abbey dash. You are right by the finish area, and the service teams always congregate on the steps of the town hall. I would definitely recommend staying here. Plus you can use the Virgin Active for a small fee. Which I dutifully did on Saturday afternoon, having a little swim and a long sauna/steam room.
Refreshed I popped out to do some xmas shopping and get some pre-race dinner, another advantage of being on my own meant I could go for sushi! (I have a fish hating boyfriend)Feeling very chilled out after my pleasant day by myself, chatting to strangers and eating nice things, I got my kit ready for the next day. This felt VERY strange and I had to remind myself what to do! I was sure I had some pre-race rituals, but I wasnt sure what!
Having NO pressure to perform well definitely helped me, and I sort of breezed through the next morning, before I knew it i was on the start line!Of course the first few km's were waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to fast which I payed for at the end of the race. If it wasn't my lack of run fitness, it definitely was the suicidal starting pace!
Anyway, I finished, much quicker than I had expected. All is not lost! The runner is still lurking inside me somewhere!
