Finishing time
3 hours 26 minutes 57 seconds
Weather
Very pleasant, sunny, calm and warm.
Day 8 was finally here, I had been waiting 2 years for this day. Last time I did the 10in10 at 11 miles on day 8 I injured my right calf. I didn’t blog much about it at the time as I was so upset and affected by it. It came on instantly and extremely painfully, leaving me struggling to walk never mind run. I was reduced to dragging my right leg along the road until I finally found an unusual way to run slowly which to this day I can’t remember exactly what I did. Then again at mile 20 in Bowness it got worse and again I was reduced to a slow walk. I did finish with a bit of slow running for the last few miles but my time was 4 hours 53 minutes 43 seconds. One of my worst times ever! I didn’t blog any of this last time so as not to worry family and friends. Many until this blog post still don’t know the truth of my day 8 nightmare. I remember being in the ice bath thinking there was no way on earth I would be able to run 2 more marathons over the next 2 days! As far as I was concerned my attempt at the 10in10 was over. I had my head in my hands and was desperately struggling to hold back the tears in front of the physio.
After the icy bath I pulled myself together and had my evening physio session which consisted of having a block of icy the size of your fist rubbed on my calf followed by the lightest of manipulation, laser treatment and lastly had it creatively strapped up with tape. I didn’t believe I would be able to run the next day.
The next day I wore my Ipod Shuffle to distract my mind from my calf and ran. To my complete surprise I got round with only twinges of pain towards the end of the run. Similar treatment got me round the final day and all the rest, as they say, is history.
Would I get past mile 11 this time?
Should I run it very carefully?
This time I felt good at the start of the race and the weather was perfect for me so I decided to ignore the demons from 2 years ago and put some effect into my run. The first few miles went very well and fast, I was very pleased and counted down the miles to mile 11. Finally I got to the mile 11 point and I was perfectly fine! I screamed out loud as I ran down the road. If there was anyone about they would have been wondering what was going on! I cruised through half way in 1:43, I was amazing myself and wondered if a sub 3:30 was on the cards. The second half of the run went as well and I finished with my first sub 3:30 during a 10in10 race and my fastest 10in10 time ever, not bad for day 8!
I was so pleased and the demons from 2 years ago were well and truly gone.
