The way to tackle the 10in10 is to take the first couple of days at a pace well within yourself so you don’t pick up any injuries or get too stiff or sore for the later stages of the event. This is something I’ve been sharing with my fellow runners who haven’t done the event before to hopefully help them stay injury free and complete the 10in10 more comfortably. You think this sort of sound advice from my experience would be acted upon by yours truly sadly that wasn’t really the case today.
I’ve had a few days off before coming to Brathay to rest the legs, all this has accomplished is to make me feverishly hyperactive. I’ve not been able to sit still. This morning I was so eager to simply get on with running day 1. Finally it was 9:30am and time to start, no one seemed in a rush to get going so I stepped forward, dibbed my computer chip and set off.
I can’t emphasise enough how much I love running up here in the Lakes, especially at this time of the year with the trees in new leaf, the carpets of blue bells and the scent of wild garlic in the air. My stored energy and the excitement all got to me and I couldn’t help but run fast, mile one in 6 minutes 58 seconds, oooops!
The next few miles weren’t much slower but by mile 12 I started to calm down and settle into a more sensible pace.
So I think the thing to say is “Do as I say and not as I do”.
The main feature of the day was the weather, I’d got up this morning thinking it was nice, bright, dry and pleasant. The weather forecast was for showers but it looked like they would be few and far between. How wrong was I! The first mile was dry then it just kept raining, horrible and cold. I couldn’t feel my fingers, to such an extent that I could even open my energy gel at mile 18. I carried it with me hoping to bump into a member of the support staff and ask for help. I saw Michelle at 20 miles but she couldn’t get out of her car in Bowness because of all the traffic so I plodded on. There’s always someone at Ice Cream Mountain at mile 22, I thought to myself but not today. In the end I carried the gel 8 miles only to bring it back to the finish line unopened. In the end I was so glad to simply just cross the finish line and get into some dry, warm cloths. Finishing time today was 3:38:01 and third place, some 7 minutes faster than the 3:45 I had planned. The legs feel fine so it doesn’t look like the faster than planned pace has done any damage.
Here’s hoping for a drier day tomorrow.
