West Pinchbeck 10K

We had a fabulous pre race night at Kerrys' house... Terry making his signature dish of beef wellington, and we had the best laugh, as usual. Getting up to howling winds and rain with dark horrible skies, didn't exactly fill me with the joys of spring, but it didn't seem long before the coat was going on and we were on our way out the door. It was cold!

There had been a bit of banter that I was going to retire from 10K's after this race, as I hate them, however I had to do a sub 60 for that... I was railroaded into going for a sub 58.30 by everyone (or I would not be able to retire...apparently) and Kerry was to pace me through it. I was a bit apprehensive about being paced as I've never done this before... but quite frankly I needed all the help I could get.

It didn't seem long and we were off, Kerry chatting away like a good 'un, waving to spectators and cheerfully asking did they have the kettle on for her and she'd get the cup on her way back. Even this early on I wondered how she could talk so easily... I was already out of breath. I looked down at my Garmin to hear "Stop looking... that's my job today". Occasionally I would take a sideways glance only to be caught red handed. I decided it was probably easier just to do what she said!

The first couple of miles were OK, a little laboured as I wasn't "into the run" properly yet, but Kerry was saying things would settle down soon, and started to point out where we would be running next. We anticipated that the next left turn would have us heading into a very strong wind, and boy was it strong. I said I thought it was like Fleetwood without sand. Running up here, we nestled nicely behind 3 girls who seemed to be taking the brunt of it. I was most dismayed when Kerry said "OK, they are going too slow for our pace, we need to start picking people off now". I couldn't quite believe it as we moved around them and it felt like a gale force straight at us. I had to put my head down and battle against it. Not content with that, I'm now being told we need to find another 6 seconds for this mile as we were behind our time. We pushed on and didn't seem to get any further forward! The wind made my chest feel tight with a sort of burning sensation I've never experienced before. I thought about a book I have "Ultra marathon man, confessions of an all night runner" by Dean Karnazes. In it, he battles against some painful situations... so really, this was nothing... I can keep going.

We're turning left now, and we're both thinking the wind will be much easier as it will be to our right hand side. Kerry is still cheerfully talking to everyone, telling marshalls they must be freezing out here, pointing out flowers in gardens... I'm wishing I had her energy as I'm finding today hard. The left turn made things worse, and the sideways wind was absolutely awful. We ran along for a while before a water station appears. I take a bottle, have one swig and ditch the rest. How elite of me ;-)
You can see a trail of runners ahead, and Kerry tells me the wind will be on our back soon. When this happens it's great and I actually feel very comfortable here. Another runner who has been in our shadow for the past half mile runs alongside and chats to us, telling us it's her first 10K. She's looking great for a first attempt. I'm feeling really good now, and Kerry tells me not to pick the pace up too much as there is still a long way to go.

She was right, that road lasted forever. I continued to feel good until about the last 500 metres when the tiredness kicked in. We ran over the line, both laughing, in 57.22. I was absolutely chuffed with a 4 minute and 17 second PB... all thanks to the lovely Kerry.... I'd have definitely been slower without her help. And it was clearly a walk in the park for her.... she's have got a fab PB if she'd ran it on her own.