Leeds 10k 2014

As I have mentioned before, the Leeds 10k 2013 was my first ever race.  I was under prepared physically and mentally, but I completed the course and wore my souvenir drab grey t-shirt on many a training run during winter.  Today I returned to the scene of last years crimes against running to better myself.

This was actually the fourth time I have walked into Leeds for a race.  It the walk feels like an important part of my race part now.  So much so that races out of the city leave me feeling a bit like a fish out of water.  I set off at 8:00am after a breakfast of black coffee, orange juice and a banana.  I know that this doesn't sound like a well rounded and energy packed meal but I like to keep things as normal as possible on race days and that is what I tend to have for breakfast during the week.

One of the reasons I love the walk from Beeston to Leeds on a race day is the growing feeling of excitement and anticipation the closer you get.  The first ten minutes or so is a very solitary walk.  Only dog walkers tend to be up at that time on a Sunday morning.  Once you make it to Bridgewater place you start to see more runners, only one or two at first, but once you are through the tunnel under the train station you are suddenly part of a mass migration towards Millennium Square.  It does feel primal, like we are being called to an ancient ritual site. We are however being corralled and sorted into race pens, to keep similarly paced runners together.  This works, after a fashion, but I'll come back to that in a bit.

First things first, I went for a wee.  My fourth of the morning.  I think my bladder wanted no part in any excuses I might have for a poor race after last years forced comfort break.  The public toilets in  Millenium Square were open and that was fine, but only if you were a bloke.  The queue for the ladies was HUGE and there didn't seem to be many portaloos available.  I'm sure this was causing quite a lot of stress for a lot of people.

I spotted the Sub 50 marker and, due to a change of planning by Run for All, I ended up stood on the same piece of ground as I was a year ago, the cobbles out side Leeds City Museum to be precise.  We milled about for a while, not as long as last year and were soon herded to Merrion Street to wait for the start and to cross the start line on Vicar Lane.

The wait was made much more bearable by bumping into Diane, a friend from twitter and previous runs.  We took the mick out of the random warm up guy and tried to focus on the impending race; don't run too fast and try to run in a straight line whenever possible was the plan.

It was a simple plan.  All I had to do was keep under 5 minutes for each kilometre and I would achieve my goal.  Sounds simple enough in theory.  I managed to keep my powder dry and got through the first kilometre in 4:32, settled into a steady pace and without getting boxed in too much, got on with the rest of the race.  It's a dull route along Kirlstall Road and back again but there were people cheering us along all the way and that does make a huge difference.

The only tricky bit of the course is when it swings behind the old Harley Davidson garage.  It's a tight chicane and everyone wants to stay as close to the corner as possible so bunching and losing rhythm is inevitable.  I got to the turn at Kirkstall Morrisons and started the return journey back into town.  I went through the 6k point with 20 seconds still in the bag but the heat was starting to get to me.  My pace dropped and thoughts of finishing 50+ entered my mind.

At 8k I tried to up my pace again, nothing too fast but I convinced myself that there were only ten minutes to go and then I could stop.  At 9k my watch read 44:46.  I had just over 5 minutes to cover the last kilometre of the course including the only real hill on the route.  All of my training routes include hills of some kind, all of them more severe than the slight ramp into town, but it took all my effort not to stop for a walk just to catch my breath.

All that was left was the final 200m in front of the Town Hall.  The crowds were huge.  We Exist by Arcade Fire came on my ipod and from somewhere I summoned up the energy to sprint to the finish line.  I stopped my watch and clung onto the barrier at the side of the road rather than falling off my exhausted legs.  I have learned that my watch time is never the same as my chip time, such is the vagary of which line the time is set from so I tried not to pay attention to the information it was giving me.

Last year I had to wait a day to find out my official time but this time I got a text message instantly.  "Congratulations on completing the Asda Foundation Leeds 10K in a time of 49:52".  I had done it!  Over the moon doesn't come close.  In the space of a year I have shaved seventeen minutes off my time.  I'm never going to challenge the lads at the front of the pack but that isn't why I run.

It wasn't a perfect race by any stretch of the imagination.  Starting the race with people aiming to run approximately the same pace should eliminate having to run around the slower runners but the corporate teams, who started after the elite runners and before the rest of us, were of mixed ability.  Having people already walking after the first kilometre meant having weave, exactly one of the things I wanted to avoid doing.  But if that is my only complaint of the day it can't have been too bad.

The 2014 Leeds 10k was a great and well organised race.  There were fewer water stations than last year but it was cooler than last year too.  I already have my place booked for the 2015 race and hopefully by then I'll be looking at a time sub 45.  Best get running!

Leeds 10k 2014 Race Prep

This weekend is the Leeds 10k and it has been on my mind since I finished the same race last year.  That was my first race, one that I didn't really prepare myself for and one that has fired me on to run further and train harder.  In the race review that I wrote at the time (reposted yesterday) I sound really positive about the experience, but looking back I feel that I had let myself down.  Yes it was a wonderful achievement, I'd managed to pull my body around the course without collapsing, but I could've and should've done better.

My first mistake was simply not putting the miles under my feet in the build up to the race.  I had wanted to complete my first 10k in around an hour, but I had only run four 5k runs in the two weeks before the race and only one long run of 11k a month earlier.  The long run came in at 1:16:47 so although I knew I could run the distance I also knew I was going to miss my 1 hour target.

My second mistake was to be ill the week before the race.  Perhaps I should cut myself some slack, we all get ill every now and then.  However I'm putting this particular illness down to running and my own naivety.  I ended up bed-bound by constipation, I could barely move such was the discomfort that I was in.  I know that there are many possible reasons behind this, but to this day I have put it down to not staying hydrated properly while running coupled with pre-race nerves.

My final mistake was a direct result of my second mistake.  Race day was set to be hot, very hot, and I was adamant that I was going to be properly hydrated before the race started.  Not to put to fine a point on it I drank too much.  Smoothie for breakfast, water on the walk to the race, more water waiting at the start.  I had to take an unscheduled stop at around 6k for a comfort break and, although I could stop my watch, I had no control over the official timing. 

After everything, all that had gone wrong, I crossed the line in 1:07:25.  7 minutes past my target time.  I had managed to run/walk 10k.  I had raised money for charity.  I had even stopped for a pee and I had my first bit of running swag so I was feeling good about myself.  I had a pint and Sunday Lunch in one of Leeds' finest watering holes to celebrate.  I was elated.  I wrote the positive blog and then, having dragged myself around the streets of Leeds, I more or less stopped running.  I had no goal, nothing to prove, I already had "The T-Shirt".  Over the course of the year that changed and I got back into running having realised how target driven I am.

This year I am ready for the Leeds 10k.  I have been running between 20k and 30k a week for months since completing the Leeds Half Marathon in May.  I have managed to keep illness and injury free by keeping an eye on what I eat and drink and by listening to my body.  I now know what to expect on race day, and I know not to treat it any differently from a normal long run on any other Sunday morning in relation to preparation and taking on fluids.

My current PB for a timed race is 54:10 and that was set on a very muddy and hilly off road race at Harewood House.  Beating that time is my obvious goal for the weekend's 10k, however I do have a faster target in mind.  I have come close to running sub 50 times during training runs, most of which are much hillier than the Leeds 10k will be.  A time of 45:59 or less will leave me over the moon.  If you are in Leeds and you see number 4241 hobble past, please give Sancho a shout of encouragement.

Leeds 10k 2013

Below is my review of the Run For All Leeds 10k 2013.  It was my first race and this weekend I'll be running it again.  I'm a lot more prepared this time around.

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Leeds 10k

On Sunday, along with almost 10,000 other people, I took to the mean streets of Leeds to take part in the Leeds 10k.  This was my first proper run since deciding to try and get fit in the middle of last year.  I'd taken the decision to do something about my fitness after realising that my son, R, would only be getting faster, as I was getting slower.

I got to Millenium Square at 8:10am and started to wonder what I was doing there.  Everywhere I looked there were people limbering up, stretching and generally looking like they knew what was going on.  A thought dawned on me.  If I just set of running, there and then, I could complete the course and be on my way home before the race had even started.

I didn't start running.  Instead I nervously stretched, took on water and tried to vanish into the crowds.  Now, I know what I put on my application form.  I know that I had estimated my time as around one hour and twenty minutes.  I do not know why I was corralled in with the elite athletes.  This did not do my confidence any favours.  The slowest section I could put myself in was sub forty five minutes, half my expected time.

We were ushered, by the army, to the start line, and there we continued to wait.  Finally, after standing around like cattle, whilst the morning sun beat down on us, a local radio DJ got us under way.  I was aware that I tend to run too fast but there was no slowing down.  Running in a crowd is infectious, you become part of a pack.  It's the closest I have come to feeling like a zebra on the Serengeti.  Luckily the crowds lining the route were a lot more friendly than the packs of lions that encourage the zebras across the plains.

The cheering on-lookers did help, as I'd be told they would.  The volunteers handing out water bottles and soaked sponges definitely helped.  Being passed by a panda and a banana didn't help my confidence at all.  But it was the thought of seeing my son at the finish line that kept my legs moving.  That and the thought of the money I'd raised for Bliss, got me over the finish line in one hour and seven minutes.

I know that I'm not going to challenge Mo Farrah any time soon but for me getting over the line was a great achievement.  If I can run for an hour, walking every now and the to catch my breath, then I'm sure I can kick a ball around a park with R without the need of an oxygen tank on stand by.

I chose Bliss, the premature baby charity, to run the 10k for as R was born 8 weeks early.  We were lucky that we didn't actually need their support but we witnessed first hand the work that they do for families who really need support when their dreams of a normal family life are in turmoil.  I know that my run is over but you can still support Bliss by donating on my Just Giving page.

A long long time ago...

About a year ago, on the 3rd July 2013, I wrote the following blog post.  I was about to enter my first ever organised 10k race and I wanted to set out why I had taken up running.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Running up that hill.

I'll admit it.  I'm not getting any younger and I'm certainly not getting any fitter.  Quite the reverse in fact.  That I haven't managed to any sustain any kind of exercise regime since I was 18 hasn't helped matters.  Before going to university I used to play Rugby Union, but I didn't fancy getting involved in the "Uni Club" lifestyle.  Instead I started making serious inroads into developing a drinking habit.

I've had the odd dalliance back into getting fit but nothing ever stuck.  I joined a gym and went a couple of times.  I only found out that it had closed down when I went to cancel my membership.  I bought badminton rackets and shuttlecocks but I didn't really look too hard to find an opponent.  I did manage to lose some weight after somebody mistook me for Jack Black but that was through diet not exercise.

I am an avid sports fan, but exercise for the sake of it just isn't something that inspires me.  Then, last summer, I had an epiphany.  We had had some friends visiting for the weekend with their little girl.  It had turned into a nice afternoon so we took a trip to the park to let the tiddlers run off some steam before bed time.  We also took a football with us, admittedly for the benefit of the dads and not the children.

After twenty minutes or so kicking the ball around I was in a mess.  My son, not even two at this point, on the other hand, still had energy to burn.  I know it's hard to believe but I was a child once myself.  I knew that running around, a lot, is one of the things that children do best.  I also knew that in my condition I was in no shape to run around for long periods of time without keeling over.  I needed to do something about my lack of fitness before it was called on.

The London Olympics came and went and I still hadn't done anything about getting fit.  The memory of that day in the park was still vivid in my mind, but I didn't want to become a gym bunny and the thought of humiliating myself in front of strangers if I joined a sports club terrified me.  If I was going to do this I was going to have to do it myself.

I decided to start running.  I've been known to mock joggists in the past, but I needed to do something or face a lifetime of fat gags from my son*.  I asked around and took some advice, the most important piece of which was to spend some money on a pair of running shoes.  There were two reasons for this. The first was the advice.  If I started running in my battered old trainers I'd probably injure myself and stop running as soon as I started.  The second was the thought of an expensive pair of trainers taunting me every time I saw them unused.

A few months down the line, I'm about to take part in my first 10K.  I'm not ready for it by a long way.  I'd wanted to set a decent time but I'll settle for finishing and not being humiliated.  It's the thought of future summers running around with my son that will get me across the line.  I'm also raising money for Bliss, the premature baby charity, but that is for a different post.

*probably the same fat gags I levelled at my dad and he wasn't fat.