The plan today was to take it very steady and see how long it took me to run out of steam. Since Ripon at the start of October, my calf problems have restricted my running and my longest run was last Monday. That one was 13m and I ran out of steam at 8m, so the omens were not good.
Lent a hand setting up Fetchpoint (the support point for runners from Fetcheveryone) and then went off to get ready and made my way to the start. Just lots and lots of people I knew, local runners, three clubmate and lots of Fetchies. The marshalls were mainly the same ones as last year and one remembered me from last year. Some of the marshalls also marshall at the Parkrun so there were lots of familiar faces. The marshalls were very encouraging, I wouldn't fancy being stuck out there for so long in that weather.
The weather was not great. It could have been much worse because the Town Moor is very exposed and and when it windy running is a nightmare. However, it was only a very light breeze. Its was a bit cold but what made it worse was the rain. The showers did not last long but they came very regularly. I felt lucky that I had decided to run in a waterproof top.
I started at a steady 10 minute miles and was soon near the back, but that didn't worry me and I did wonder if I was going a bit fast, but it felt comfortable and I remained at that pace for almost the entire race. Others slowed so from lap 3 onwards and I started to overtake people which helped with the motivation. On the fifth lap, I was sure I was going to tire, but I still seemed able to grind out that pace. I did walk the hill on the final lap but I knew I could do that and get under 4hr 30 which was almost 30 minutes better than the time I thought I might get. So I was very happy that I didn't run out of steam
We all passed Fetchpoint five times and the support there was just great. I did get teased by one Fetchie at Fetchpoint though. Last Sunday I paced her to a 10K pb on the Town Moor and as we got near to the finish I said 'There is a slight hill coming up and you need to dig in' and as we climbed I said 'Dig in Lesley'. We got to the top and turned into the finishing straight and I said something along the lines of 'Use all that's left and go for the pb' ! Now Fetchpoint was shortly before that hill and every time I went past she used all those lines on me. That happened five times ! I will be more careful what I say next time
Anna Seeley was the first Strider home and Andrew Thompson was close behind having had a great run and gaining a new personal best ! Phil Owen ran three laps, but his knee was starting to hurt so he wisely pulled out
