Blymhill 10k 22nd Jan 2012

After the drive to Telford I was very nervous as really didn’t know what to expect. Upon arriving at the event my nerves didn’t subside when I saw all the runners and all the kit and warm ups going on, I myself have never warmed up in my life I find a small walk out of the estate at a reasonable pace is enough to get me going.

I had been told that running is a friendly sport full of camaraderie I could see little of this from where I was standing as a new runner at my first event full of nerves and anticipation; lucky for me I had Kevin there.

We got led to the middle of a very muddy field and I remember thinking “this is it” Kevin stood to the side with his phone in the air taking pictures of my first running event, and me trying to hide from him behind the swarm of 300 plus people. He still succeeded in getting some snaps! A man with a megaphone shouted to everyone to look out for the Rabbit holes which filled me with confidence. (Note to oneself when entering an event make sure you look at the terrain that you will be running on.)

The horn sounded and the race began I soon realised that placing yourself at the front of a 300 strong crowd of actual runners (not pretend ones like me) was not the best plan I’ve ever had as I felt I had to keep pace with them or fall behind, consequently I tried to keep pace and after 1 mile I conceded and starting to walk! This I couldn’t understand as I had been continually running 3 miles without stopping with ease at home.

Turns out trying to keep up with 10k runners that finish in sub 30 times is not a great idea, so I slowed my pace down this also enabled me to run better on the muddy fields without twisting my ankles too badly. I found the race very hard going not helped with the initial sprint at the start but my mp3 player also decided to not work and I had never before run without Eye of the Tiger willing me along my way. I struggled all the way around to find some sort of rhythm and kept being amused at turning a corner to find a stile to climb over, not what you expect being a road runner but then I should have read the small print.

It was at mile 4 of the 6.2 that my savior of the moment came along, I had tried to speak to a few fellow runners along the way commenting on the weather and such like with a frosty response but just when I started walking again a man called out to me as he caught up with me, he told me to run with him for a while and keep pace as he had seen me continually stop starting and could see this was getting me no where fast. Initially I thought god this man is slow and felt I was losing my edge on the race although I should not have doubted this man who later told me he was 52 and a committed shuffler! Shuffler being the name I know give myself when running 10 miles plus on a long run. I was pleased as he was the first person who had acknowledged me that day and we spoke about a lot of things from his running experience to my lack off. He pointed out to me at just over 5 miles that I had run continuously without stopping and had actually got my breathe back so told me there wasn’t far too go and the last bit was on road which he knew I was used to so told me to leave him and go off on my own to finish in style. What a nice man.. so I did and soon found myself enjoying the run and even overtaking 3 members of the DK running club which I felt was an achievement in itself!  Crossing the finish line and seeing Kevin there again phone in had for photos was one of the best feelings in the world because back then 6.2 miles was alien territory to me. My finish time was logged at 1 hour and 10 minutes and guess what? I didn’t finish last. I now have my Blymhill Blue Neck warmer and finish time, plus photos courtesy of Kevin who may I add walked part way around the muddy course in shoes to meet me half way to cheer me on and take a picture!! What a star.

I can honestly say I learnt so much from that race, starting with checking the terrain the race is held on, to run my own race not other peoples, test your mp3 player before setting off and looking out for the one person that may just help you finish.

Here's the details of the course and my splits from my Garmin watch 10k Blymhill Run by enigmatik3 at Garmin Connect - Details: http://bit.ly/JNAqFT