Well, after all the fuss, I made it round Thank you to all of you for your advice, support and encouragement. I should even thank Nagging Nancy, although I didn't take her with me. Just me and the Garmin, although that came up short on the distance, telling me that I'd only run 9.88km, which makes me very unhappy However, the official race blurb says that it was officially measured, so I will take their word for it and I will take their time when they send it to me. The Garmin says 1.18 which I'm quite pleased with if it was 10k, give the atrocious conditions underfoot and the appalling mountaineering I had to do.
Have you made yourself a cup of tea? Are you comfy? This could be a long one!
We set off this morning (my friend came up to support me, bless her. Conveniently, she is a nurse ) The first set back was a mahoosive queue to get through the Golden Gates. The second was that the parking was on grass, and it has been raining (and hailing, and snowing) up here for the last few days, so we slithered around for a bit - and then got stuck. As did several other people. Oops. That little problem sorted, we went to find the loos and the start and everything, which were all very convenient, and I looked at the map of the course. Didn't understand a bit of it but I reckoned there would be plenty of marshals around.
We set off and the first 1k was quite nice underfoot as we were on a road and it was flat. My feet were wet and we were skipping over puddles and there was the usual jostling and people cutting in and dodging round and I remembered why I don't enjoy races much. Many of them streamed ahead, which was good, and we passed the first km marker, which was great, and then suddenly everyone bunched up again. We'd come to the first 'hill'. This was a very muddy, very steep grass slope, leading to a muddy uphill track, leading to the first bit of the uphill switchback road.
Basically, the first 1k was flat, and then the next 4km was relentlessly uphill. 157m of ascent. Every time you turned a corner, there was more hill. Some bits were steeper, some bits were slightly shallower, but I don't think it flattened off until 43 minutes in. I'd started climbing at 9 minutes. I know this is relative, because some people would have steamed up this in 20 minutes, but for me it was a very hard slog. I walked the grassy bits, but tried to keep running on the roads. Every so often I had to walk a little - I think some of it was psychological, because it was just the effect of coming round a bend and seeing yet more incline in front of you.
Anyway, of course we got to the top, and a water station at around 5k, and an ambulance, which then nee-nahed past us, sadly, on the way down the hill
While we were on the road I could put on a bit of speed now, except now of course I needed a wee so pulled over for a shewee. After this I could make up a bit of time - and then we hit the tracks again. Very rough underfoot, not just gravel but larger rocky bits, very steep, with runnels down the middle and drop-offs at the side. Lovely! Then we went back onto the grassy, muddy downhill, still fairly steep, so that was very slithery, and finally! we made it back onto the flat and the roads with about 2km to go. I was able to go a teeny bit faster and felt okay crossing the line.
There was just one small incident when I was heading towards the finish line and two chaps said to me, 'Is there anyone left behind you?' Cheeky so-and-sos - I wanted to go back afterwards and stomp them into the mud, but my friend wouldn't let me
I'm glad I did it, I'm really pleased my breathing held up, the weather was kind, the marshals were lovely, the bling was a bit disappointing, there was no cake (but a fish & chip van and a bacon roll van - not much good if you're veggie) and I've done it now and my next 10k will be a road race and flat
Phew!
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Anniemurph
Graduate10
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41 Replies
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Well done , great effort and determination , the hill sounds draining to say the least.
Those blokes need a good slap upside the head cheeky feckers !!
Well done for getting round - can get a bit hairy over there, especially if it's where the forestry workers have been! Good job you restrained yourself from committing "mudicide" or there'd be no more 10ks for you for a while 😀 I'm glad I didn't do that one today!
Thanks, Annie, it was always going to be hard, but the mud just made it that bit harder work, I think! Ha ha, 'mudicide', I love it - almost wish I had
Yes Annie! Fabulous stuff, so well done to you. Your first 10K race is special and you'll remember it forever. Although that does sound slippery and muddy but hats off to you for getting it done. Your road race will be a breeze in comparison!
I can't believe those idiots said that to you! You should have said, "yeah about 55 million odd sitting on their a*ses on the sofa!"
A huge pat on the back. I bet you've already searched for the next race!
Thanks, IP, I was very grateful just to have got round I did ask about trail shoes but the response was that most of the run was on tracks and roads so I didn't go and buy any. BIG mistake!
The cake has all gone on Wedgewood plates for afternoon tea at £35 per person... (presumably you get to take the plate home since it has more or less doubled in price)
Bravo for getting that thing done, that was a toughie (I promise not to whine about Carsington again now, no comparison) glad the ambulance wasn't for you, great cause too.
I am not entirely sure whether to tell you this but one of the people who has the retro cake and coffee van at Curbar Edge did the run and tweeted that she got bling and Bakewell Pudding!!! Sorry!
Yes, it was announced at the start that the first 250 people over the finish line would get a Bakewell Pudding. I knew that wasn't going to be me Good for her, though!
Thank you! It was an interesting day all round - the highs and the lows, you might say
We were so lucky with the weather though because as we were in the car to leave the heavens opened again and many cars were snaking and sliding over the grass again until they reached the roads.
Have a great time at Carsington, and let me know if you want a companion
Congratulations! That was a tough 10k - hope you're legs are resting now Anniemurph...and you've had some cake😊👏👏👏
The garmin forerunners pause if you stop (eg for water or a wee) and take a few seconds to start time and measuring distance again.. Once you start moving again - so you'll have covered the distance for sure X. Hope that makes sense!
Lovely right up, greatest of 10k's as it's your first!
Thanks, Jaxsy, I have indeed had cake so all is well My ancient 210 just carries on recording but distinguishes at the end between moving time and total time. It's the distance it seems to have underestimated Never mind - it was an official 10k and certainly round here all the hills can get in the way of the satellite signals - there are several 'dead' areas where you can't get anything at all, and it just seems to invent what it wants, so perhaps that's what happened. I'll wait for the official time and take that
It was indeed tough, made tougher by the lack of cake. There is no way I am doing it again next year and it will make me research any other races very carefully, I can assure you. Must get my priorities right!
Thank you - unfortunately my alarm is set for 3am because I need to be at the airport by 4:30am
well done Annie! Great race report and sounds like it was a hard 10k, but you should be really proud of yourself( and well done for not stomping on the men!!)
Well done Annie - that is fantastic! Sounds like a really tough one ( like the one that I pulled out of😮...so masses of respect coming from this direction!) Pity the bling was a bit disappointing but that's the first one done and dusted. Think how you will cruise around a flat road race after that!😀
Thanks, Sandra - I found it really hard going, and it has confirmed my thinking that actually I do prefer running on road surfaces. I know the scenery is so much prettier in trail-type runs, but I like being able just to get on with the running and not have to worry about sliding in mud! Definitely a flat one next
Well done Annie - sounds like a hard slog even without your recent handicaps. I had some nerd shouting "the marathon was yesterday" at me last week - felt like punching him on the nose! Put your feet up and have a good rest.
I shall do my research much more carefully in future, I tell you. Your race sounds very well planned - I would end up face planted in the Victoria sponge Good luck with it
Amazing Annie - no mention of breathing difficulties - I'm impressed at 4km of uphill too even if some was walked! You only took 5mins longer than it took for me to do a flat 10k, so methinks you were definitely on good form. It might be nice to do this one again after some hill-training and in better health though - just to see what the difference would have been? Unless you're royally put off hills forever now? If you haven't already thought of this, I think the distance difference would definitely be down to those hills. I think GPS measures birds eye view distances, whereas races are measured along the ground. A hilly route from A-B is further along the ground than viewed via GPS. So if your Garmin doesn't take gradient into account then that would explain the difference. Or I may have this completely wrong...?
Annie, you star!! Congratulations, you must be delighted.
What a tough course!! Bad news about the lack of cake -you definitely deserved a reward after tackling that. So glad you managed, and in a very respectable time too. 👏👏👏🏅👏👏👏
Thank you, AM No cake, though - shocking, isn't it? I was pleased with my time in the end and I was even more pleased to have finished. The support all round was great, but not as good as on here
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Thank you to all of you for your advice, support and encouragement. I should even thank Nagging Nancy, although I didn't take her with me. Just me and the Garmin, although that came up short on the distance, telling me that I'd only run 9.88km, which makes me very unhappy 
However, the official race blurb says that it was officially measured, so I will take their word for it and I will take their time when they send it to me. The Garmin says 1.18 which I'm quite pleased with if it was 10k, give the atrocious conditions underfoot and the appalling mountaineering I had to do.
) The first set back was a mahoosive queue to get through the Golden Gates. The second was that the parking was on grass, and it has been raining (and hailing, and snowing) up here for the last few days, so we slithered around for a bit - and then got stuck. As did several other people. Oops. That little problem sorted, we went to find the loos and the start and everything, which were all very convenient, and I looked at the map of the course. Didn't understand a bit of it but I reckoned there would be plenty of marshals around.
My First 10K Completed!!
Feeling nervous for first official 10K
First official real event
Yey hey! My first 10k!!!!
