York 10 Mile 2018

Wow! That was hard!  I think I said that last year too but I’ve slept a lot since then so I can’t remember.

So, today was the Yorkshire Marathon and 10 Mile event and Adam and I entered the 10 miles.  Let me start by saying I didn’t put as much training in for this as  I should have so, needless to say, found it very hard going for the last 2 to 3 miles (especially as there is a long-ish hill at the end).  My training had been going great for the 10K earlier this Summer and I did quite a few 7k+ runs.  Then Summer happened and, as I work at what is effectively an out of school club, getting the time to get my runs in was harder, not impossible, but harder.  Also, the days that I would have done my long runs, the Man was on his rest day so I ended up running with him on a shorter, slower run.  However, that is just an excuse.  I mean, I could have continued to run after he’d finished I just didn’t.  After the Summer holidays, we had 3 weeks before we jetted off on our holidays and we got back with a week to go before today’s event so only time for a shorter run.  It was my own fault.  I had good intentions and trained well up to the 10K in August and then got lazy and let things slide.

Anyway, the first 5K was easy, after all that is just our usual run in the parkrun.  The second 5K was OK, there was a steep bridge over the A64 during this section (between miles 4 and 5) but we got up it OK.  After about 6 miles (10K-ish) the route merges with the marathon and that is where, like last year, I started to struggle.  Not because I couldn’t keep going but because it is so hard to get past other runners as we are constantly reminded to keep to the right of the road.  That’s fair enough as the marathon runners don’t want to try to get around the slower 10 milers.  However, today it was raining!  Not just a little drizzle, which would have been nice, but a proper “you’re going to get soaked” rain.  Rain = puddles, lots of puddles, and where were most of the puddles?  On the right side of the road.  So, very wet (soaked to the skin) and feet which felt like they were swimming in my trainers which meant my feet started to feel very heavy.  I was fine until we got to the 7-mile marker and then my legs decided they were fine when I was running but my hip started hurting when I entered the walk break. Huh?  Unfortunately, as Adam needed the walk breaks, I needed to take them.  I think Adam would have been fine to continue running but if he has walk breaks built in he has to take them (except in the final km).  My breathing started to get the better of me in the final mile but, thanks to Adam, I kept going and finished in our slowest 10-mile time yet – 1:55:53.

After we finished, my hands were so cold I couldn’t open the packet which had the silver blankets in.  Fortunately, a running friend was also in the finish area and she opened Adam’s blanket for me.

Last year, we hung around to watch some of the marathon runners and the last 10 milers come in as well as take photos.  This year, we went straight to get the bus back to the city centre and then another bus home – we were so cold and wet.  Lesson learned, if it is raining take a spare set of clothes to change into when you’ve finished.

I told Adam that that was my last 10-mile event which is unfortunate as when I asked if he’d like to do it again (regardless of my decision) he said he’d like to keep doing this event.  Ah well, I have time to change my mind, IF I get the training in I might do it again next year.  If I don’t then I won’t be putting myself through it again.

Now that we are home, warmed up and fed – got to love the slow-cooker – I am finally sat down writing this and will take some time to review the draft posts I wrote while we were on holiday.  Disney posts will be coming in the next few days.  I think there are 9 in total.  Some are more or less written, others just have bullet points in so I could remember what we’d done.