Bridlington Mist

As I lay wide awake at 4 am I questioned again and again, why?  I wasn't worried or nervous, I didn't feel ill,  I didn't need the loo, in fact I could think of no good reason at all. I had even set an additional alarm on my mobile phone to ensure our Eccleshill friends weren't left waiting for us to board the coach should my dear husband decide to press 'snooze' on his alarm as he so often does on a work day!

When I decided enough was enough I got up and began my routine as I do on the morning of any race. Breakfast eaten, bag checked, we set off for our usual meet point to board the coach.  It didn't seem to take long before we arrived in a very misty Bridlington.  It wasn't a heavy fog so the thinking was that it would lift as we drew nearer to lunch time and the sun would peer through.  The 12 o'clock start time arrived and we assembled on the start line, being chip timed for the first time I had wondered more than once what effect this may have.  Bridlington being my pb for a half I questioned whether I would be able to better it. I set my watch as we crossed the line and soon came upon Steve and Claire.  The pace seemed comfortable and after a while Steve pulled away, leaving Claire and I running side by side.  We seemed to take turns to take the lead, sometimes I would overtake and she would follow and vice versa, I was just waiting for the time when I would start to fade and when we happened upon a short hill at around mile 4 I thought that would be it.  We kept good pace up the hill and I managed to recover ok and keep up.  I always feel like it's a gamble but am a firm believer in staying in the moment and if I feel good I'll go with it if not I'll drop back.  I surprised myself until mile 11 when I started to feel tired, an onlooker shouted to us that we only had two miles left and Claire uttered 'have we?' with an air of surprise. I was never entirely sure how Claire was feeling, and advised her if she had anything left to go for it for the last two miles. She did get a little ahead but was never out of site and I was more surprised to come upon clubmates, first, Brian and then Steve, we were all on for around a similar finishing time it seemed.

The cliff top finish I had been looking forward to was a bit of a let down, shrouded in mist you could see no further than the sea front, as always though there was plenty of supporters out along there and as I edged nearer and nearer to the finish, it seemed never ending.  I crossed the finishing line and stopped my watch 1:53:28 I was elated to have beaten last year's time 1:56:58 by a reasonable margin. Let the celebrations begin! Off to the Leisure Centre to freshen up and change and then meet up with the rest of the coach to while away the afternoon.

Team ERR

Misty Finish!

Next on the agenda is the Guy Fawkes 10 mile race so training will resume as soon as I feel I can put in a recovery run and get back to it.  I don't envisage a 10 mile pb having the Birstwith Brute, Swinford Swine and For Fawkes Sake to contend with, time will no doubt tell.