PB Surprise!

working hard at the Otley 10 mile

Arriving in the lovely village of Otley for the annual 10 mile race I felt slightly apprehensive.  I hadn't looked at my previous 10 mile race times but, as you do, had an idea of what my pb was.  The evening was a little drizzly and very overcast, perfect for running really.  I got my number, pinned it on and off for a last toilet stop and a warm up.  I met expectant mum and club mate Sophie and Lisa coming into the registration area, I was really pleased to see them.  It's always a boost when you know people are out and about supporting a race.  It turned out there were just four Eccleshill runners in the race, not surprising really since the Pudsey vets had taken place just the evening before.  Assembled in the start area, off went the funny sounding klaxon and off we set.  A flat just over 4 miles gives runners a chance to get into their pace before the climbing begins and then the climbs are offset by the immense downhills allowing runners such as me, to make up valuable time they almost certainly lose on the uphills! Not until next day though did I realise I had done much better than I could have imagined.  Having the run the hilly vets race the previous evening I thought it would almost certainly be a disadvantage. The times came out and I logged onto Fetcheveryone.com to compare times.  I was under the impression that Otley 2011 was my pb 10 mile race when in fact it was Guy Fawkes 10 mile and I had in fact taken four minutes off my previous Otley time and nearly 2 minutes off my previous pb, I was extremely pleased.

Resting on Thursday I then went to club as usual on Friday.  A hilly run up towards Leeds/Bradford airport was on the menu.  Just what is it with hills this week?  Despite the pouring rain I enjoyed the run with club mates. Undeterred by even more rain on Saturday morning I went to Bradford parkrun (spurred on by the fact I had some pictures to deliver to a regular parkrunner if I'm honest!). I'll just jog round was my thought.  Off we set charging towards Cartwright Hall. I felt quite good after the first lap and Linda's (parkrun director) dad caught me up and chatted.  Off he went, off I went.  It turned into bit of a game of cat and mouse, he'd be in front, I'd overtake him, he'd overtake me and so on.  I knew he must be taking it easy as he is much faster than me normally and eventually he finished about three people ahead of me but I knew I must have done at least a little better than my previous Bradford parkrun times.  Off I went home to shower and look forward to lunch with the girlies at Don't Tell Titus in Saltaire.  Whilst lunching I got the text from parkrun with my time 26:31 and 2nd lady in my category to boot! Turned out I was 1 minute 38 seconds faster than my previous Bradford time and only 2 seconds outside my all time 5k pb so I was elated once again!

I'm hoping that my current spate of good running lasts since it's only a couple of months ago I felt I was going 'downhill' though not literally it actually felt like an uphill struggle, I had a distinct lack of energy on encountering even the smallest of inclines. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong or explain how I felt but then I had an unpleasant scare with nearly passing out and feeling really ill whilst watching Marc play football one Sunday and this prompted me (at least my husband did) to visit my GP.  Following lots of tests they discovered I was severely anaemic and calcium deficient.  Since taking regular iron and calcium tablets I started to feel much better and in particular in my running. It just goes to show that we can sometimes overlook things, I genuinely thought it was a natural progression I am getting to another big birthday number in a few weeks and so I thought it was only to be expected. Hopefully when I go for further tests in a couple of weeks they will show a marked improvement and prevent even further tests.

Now I'm looking forward to my monthly sports massage with Peter May tomorrow which is a week late due to putting it off for a race to help keep my legs in tip top condition in readiness for the next bout of racing!