Race Report by Michael Hammond
I signed up for this festive run a couple of months in advance. Helen from Massey’s’ kindly arranged some teams (3 I think) which brought the entry fee down a little,
The weather coming up to the race brought an 11 inch falling of snow, making Coventry parkrun too icy to risk for two weeks in a row.
It also meant that training was impossible unless you joined a gym and got on the treadmill. I managed one run of around 4 miles; dodging the ice on the pavements with friends from Massey’s’ . The timing of the Massey’s’ Christmas Party the night before the run was also unfortunate. (It was a great party !)
I got my Santa suit on registration. I was OK with the extra layer and hat .. I’m used to wrapping up warm in the cold.. I took it steady and relaxed into the running after the cold air initially made it difficult to breathe. I changed my Garmin watch to show Kilometres so I could track the distance. There was a big Massey’s turn out…mostly ladies who all looked great in the white beards..
I have completed two 10Ks at Draycote , so it was nice to do an 8K instead. For the last 3K I chatted to a young lady who kindly kept me going at a steady pace and encouraged me at the final straight to increase it a little. I finished with a time of 00:51:50.. Ho Ho Ho Happy Christmas !
