Having done a 3 lap training run round Draycote Water 2 weeks ago in preparation for Coventry Half Marathon I decided to enter this race late last week. The course was a 2 lap loop plus a little bit extra to make up for the fact that each loop was only 4.7 miles.
After picking up my race number I decided to make my way to the start line which was a short jog from the club house/visitor centre. I did notice that it was a bit windy along this stretch of the course and we would have to run this bit 3 times in the run before we ended up at the finish.
My Garmin said the start time was 9:50am (we were due to start at 9:45am), about a minute later I crossed the start line and clicked on my Garmin. It was a slow drag up to the club house/visitor centre where we turned sharp right and up the first incline – nothing like the hill at Ilmington BUT this was at the start of the run and I had started off a bit too fast. ‘Dig in and lean forward’ I heard a Massey supporter shout. At least I knew we would have downhills to recover on the route but I also knew there was another incline with a sharp right turn just past the pumping station.
I had definitely started off too quickly (which I always tend to do) as I felt like I was plodding for the 2nd lap. I was pleased to see the 8 mile sign again and knew it wasn’t too far so tried to step it up a bit, I passed 2 runners I had had in my sight for a while and was glad that I had the energy to overtake them. Just after miile 9 and the windy back straight was round the bend. I tried to go a bit faster as I could see my Garmin was at 1:21 – I’d set myself a target of 1:25.
The female runner I had passed earlier came up by the side of me and thanked me for being a good pace setter and we shook hands as we ran. I didn’t have anything left for a fast finish and encouraged her to run on. My Garmin time was 1:25:41 – official chip time 1:25:43 – so not a bad effort for my first official 10-miler. A great technical T.shirt, medal, snacks, juice and water in the goody bag.
As always the Massey runners who had already finished waited for their fellow runners to come in and cheered them on.
Would I do it again? Most probably!
Full results below:
Pos | FirstName | LastName |
Net Time |
Category |
Categ Pos |
Gender Pos |
6 |
Peter | Paprcka |
01:06:31 |
Senior |
2 |
3 |
54 |
Dominic | Lenehan |
01:20:49 |
V60+ |
1 |
36 |
58 |
Richard | Sale |
01:22:03 |
Senior |
16 |
38 |
74 |
Cathy | Mckeown |
01:25:43 |
LV50 |
2 |
20 |
79 |
Stuart | Liggins |
01:26:36 |
Senior |
22 |
52 |
98 |
Cathy | Keay |
01:30:57 |
LV40 |
10 |
32 |
119 |
Anna | Towey |
01:38:58 |
Lady |
25 |
48 |
131 |
Mary | Connolly |
01:43:35 |
LV40 |
20 |
57 |
144 |
David | Goodwin |
01:47:19 |
Senior |
28 |
71 |
145 |
Daniel | Connolly |
01:47:49 |
Senior |
29 |
72 |
148 |
Tiffannie | Slatford |
01:48:27 |
Lady |
36 |
70 |
154 |
Anne-Marie | Paszkiewicz |
01:54:55 |
Lady |
41 |
75 |
158 |
Ali | Virgo |
01:57:36 |
LV50 |
8 |
78 |
159 |
Emma | Cutting |
02:08:32 |
LV40 |
26 |
79 |
160 |
Jane | Damms |
02:08:32 |
LV40 |
27 |
80 |
161 |
Kelli | Boyde |
02:24:10 |
Lady |
44 |
81 |
Race report by Cathy McKeown