Friendly atmosphere at the start, but couldn't hear what what was being said by the organiser. Started off up a hill and then at the top of the hill the Fun run went off to the left and the 10 mile and 5 mile races carried straight on. It was then downhill and then turned off onto an offroad section through Melchbourne Park. It was very hot, but I had started off at a reasonable pace. Was hoping to do the race in well under 1 1/2 hours, which meant a pace of under 9 min / miles. This seemed possible. There was some shade going through Melchbourne Park, the next section, but the path was fairly uneven, so you had to watch your footing. At about 3 miles we came out of Melchbourne Park and the 5 mile race went to the left and the 10 mile race to the right, through Riseley. This also meant the end of most of the shade for the rest of the race.
There was then a climb out of Riseley and I managed to overtake a number of people. I overtook somebody from Bedford Harriers and then he overtook me again on the flat bit. This continued for the next few miles and then he finally pulled away from me. I then started to get hotter and hotter and was starting to struggle. I walked through the next drinks station and managed to cool down a bit.
The race then went out onto the B660 and there was hardly any shade at all. I was finding it very hard. We then came off the B660 and there was a little shade. There was about 3 miles to go and there was another water station. I walked through this and for a distance afterwards. I really didn't feel like running again and was really looking forward to the end. An ambulance had gone past us and up ahead it had stopped and there was someone on a stretcher being put in the back. Not sure if it was a runner or one of the many cyclists who had passed us, who seemed to be doing the same route. Hope they are ok now. This made me think its not worth making yourself ill in this sort of heat. It must have been 30 degrees or over in the sun.
I managed to drag myself to the end finishing in 1:32:51, this was better than last year's time and a PB. I wasn't that happy with this time, but considering the heat, it was ok, I suppose. I had been on track to beat 1 1/2 hours, but really slowed in the last 3 miles, see Garmin Connect here :
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220765468
This was one of the hardest races I have ever run in. I wouldn't like to run in that sort of heat again. I felt a great sense of achievement aferwards.
This is a great race with a great atmosphere. The course is quite challenging and I think its a good run out in preparation for an Autumn 1/2. I will probably run it again next year ; just hope it's cooler next time. Last year's race had perfect conditions - sun, rain and then sun again ! Starting the race at 11:30AM didn't help, would be better if the race started earlier.
Later in the day I was very tired and ending up going to bed at 8PM. On Monday my ankle swelled up (probably wasn't a good idea to run 10 miles on it, after twisting it !). Picture of it last night :
Raised up my foot last night and I have had bandage on it all day and it's gone down a lot now (Tuesday evening). This meant I couldn't go to the C&C Tuesday session (although my Wife wanted to play netball tonight, so probably couldn't have gone anyway). Hopefully I can run tomorrow.
