Wowser this thread moves quickly. I can?t check the thread over the weekend so when I come in on mon/tues I spend most of the morning catching up. Hopefully we will be getting a new home computer at the end of this month.
There were loads of runs over last weekend and so far I am enjoying all the race reports. However I?m sure nobody can beat my time of 1hr 58 minutes for 10k LOL
It was my first race, 10k cross country with obstacles. Training was going well and I had managed to run up to 8k then I got very painful shin splints. I took 2 weeks off and then did a couple of 15 minute runs which aggravated my shins again as I didn?t rest them long enough. Lesson learnt there.
So going into the race the most I had run was 8k and that was over a month previous to the event and my shins still hurt. I was completely unprepared and really shouldn?t have run but dam it I had paid my fee and I wanted a crappy cotton T-shirt out of it.
I decided going in that I was going to walk all the hills (of which there were many) and to try my best on the flats. My brother had done the Cardiff survival of the fittest only the week before and as he was tired from that so he said he would run with me.
We made sure we were near the back when the gun went off as to not get in anyone?s way and set off. Then it was just over 10k of lots of hills and a few evil very muddy obstacles. I did walk up the hills as planned but as we were near the back so did most of the other people we were with. During the down hill parts and the flats I managed to run at a good slow/steady pace and actually overtook quite a few people (admittedly most of them were walkers) the course itself was quite stunning and was a real mix of cross country terrain with both fields and woodland.
About three quarters round we ran across a road were we got to see a load of people who had already finished driving home!! When we got to the last 1 ½ km my brother pushed off towards the end while I tackled the last hill. My brother after collecting his goody bag ran back and met me with only ½ km to go and then ran the last part with me so we did manage to cross together.
Overall I am pleased. Yes I know that I could have done so so much better but given my injury I really don?t think I could have given any more really and I would love to do it again when healthy just to prove to myself that I can do it. I finished 621 out of 700 so almost 70 people finished behind me and overall I?m quite positive about the whole thing.
Now I do need to rest though until my shin splits are better so no running for at least two weeks.