West Cumbrian Way Race

Got up this morning after a horrendous night. I had hardly slept at all because the hotel we were staying in was the noisiest, smallest, most outdated place you could ever have the displeasure to visit. We had people discussing what time they were going to have breakfast outside our room at about 3am.... it turns out everybody in our group had just as bad a night, all complaining of one noise or another.

The weather threatened to be miserable, and as we walked up to registration it looked as if the forecast was correct. Registration was a farce, with only 2 people sorting out around 1000 runners numbers and chips. With only 10 minutes to start time, someone announced that those without chips were just going to be given a gun time as they were way behind getting everyone sorted.

A quick video of Kerry and myself (as we were donned in our stylish bags so to keep the rain off) from some local news people, and we walked down to the main street in Cockermouth. It wasn't long before we were off, and I suddenly realised that I hadn't done any warm up at all. Gutted! I would have to be careful not to overdo it in the first mile (which I do tend to do quite often).

A quick shout and a wave to Terry as we ran past him, and I noticed that Graeme was running beside me. When Graeme can't really be bothered with a run, he tends to run with me, which is what he had decided to do today.

End of the first mile and I realised I'd done it in 9.44 ... too quick for the start I thought. I had it in my head I wanted to get as close to 10 minute miling as possible, however would really like to beat my 10K PB pace of 9.56mm if at all possible.
Unfortunately, despite going to the loo about 5 times, I found myself needing to go again. The feeling wasn't going away, and as I ran along I looked for somewhere to go. Every field had a big gate, and I carried on hoping to find an easier access to a field.
During mile 2, I just couldn't wait anymore and scaled a 4 foot farmers gate, to hear cheers of "we know what you're doing" from fellow runners.
What a total relief, and although I was convinced I was there for about 3 minutes, after checking my Garmin I found I was only about a minute and a half before we set off again.

The hills were a plenty, and I was shocked, as when looking on mapmyrun it looked like it was relatively flat until mile 5 or 6. I think a few others were also a bit shocked by this as everybody seemed to be saying "Bloody Hell, I didn't think it was going to be this steep".
Miles 3 and 4 were 10.09 and 10.34 respectively. I had to have a quick walk break during the fourth mile after a steep climb. I kept thinking though, that, if I adopted the train of thought that I had been advised from William and Shaun, then as long as I finished faster because I'd recovered with walk breaks, then that was fine.

Everytime I looked down at my Garmin I seemed to be doing "9 something" pace, which is really fast for me... so I kept on.
Mile 5 was 9.30 and as we hit quite a few inclines after that, the sixth mile came in at 10.17. I had wanted to walk the top part of one hill and Graeme told me to try and carry on to the top then walk. I managed to do it...just!
Then it all went a bit awful for a while, and I was really struggling. During the 7th mile I hit a knackered bad patch, as a massive hill loomed in front of me. I took a bottle of water at the bottom and told Graeme I would have to walk up it, and he could go if he felt good. He decided to stay with me. I literally walked the hill from bottom to top, and even walking was exhausting. The seventh mile came in at an abysmal 11.26mm pace.

I got to the top of the hill and was still feeling awful, so I picked a tree a few metres ahead and said I would run from there and try to keep going til the end.
The eighth mile was done in 9.20, however, although just a few steps, I did have to walk a little bit. It was then all downhill however the rain came down really heavily and with the wind in our faces we battled on as best we could. The downhill parts were very steep, and I'm not so good at that sort of stuff, so I was feeling very uncomfortable by now. I was soaked wet through and the rain was getting in my eyes, and was totally irritating.
The 9th mile came in at 9.06mm and then we were on the last bridge with a sort of dirt track for the last 800 metres.
Graeme later said he really thought I looked like I was ready to walk here, and he was absolutely right, but I kept going. He told me how great I was doing and that we had passed a load of people but nobody had overtaken us for about 2 miles.
Turning the corner and seeing the finishing stand was a relief and I sprinted as fast as I could.

I crossed the line and was completely knackered to the point I bent over to try and catch my breath... some annoying photographer catching the moment on camera.
I was given my medal and could barely speak to say thank you.
Finishing time 1:35:26 Average pace 10.01 (5 seconds slower per mile than a flat 10K PB from last year), and because the fastest I have ever ran 10 miles is 1:51, I would have beaten a 10 mile time easily (had the race been as long as it was supposed to have been).

Overall I'm really pleased. I ran nearly all of todays run in an uncomfortable state, which is something I haven't done enough of in the past, and what's more, I could not have done this any faster today. I gave it my all!