So on to Leeds it was. I was looking forward to going there
as I hadn’t been since 2003 for a Uni reunion crazy night out so it would be
good to see the city sober.
The train ride up north was loud. A group of lads boarded in
London and cracked open the cans of lager before we even left King’s Cross. I
love listening to groups like this as there are always endless stories of
gossip that they divulge to each other. Much better than the initial
conversation of whether the prawn and avocado sandwich was for Mummy or Daddy
that I thought I was going to listen to until the lads got on it. As we
progressed north the weather turned from an amazing sunny winter’s day in
London to a very misty and rather grim looking Yorkshire. One of the lads
started to sing “Fog on the Tyne” which amused me for a minute or two as I was
catapulted back to my youth and the shame that I actually bought that single by
Gazza; however 4 hours later when the song was still going around in my head I
longed for a new drunk to start singing anything else to me.
Arriving in Leeds I met some friends I haven’t seen for a
long time which was wonderful. I love that my hobby takes me to places where I
can meet up with friends and family along the way as well as doing the run.
The race was the final one in the Run Britain Grand Prix and
my dream would be to make it into the twenties in terms of ranking….really all
that meant was that I would have to go up by only one place. My training had
not been massively disciplined the past few weeks so I wasn’t in amazing shape
but I was hopeful that I could do it.
Leeds at 5pm on a Saturday was already in full swing….the
lads from the train seemed rather tame in comparison. It was like Magaluf on
steroids. Everyone was already half cut and it felt like the Friday before
Christmas….except that it was only mid-November. Perhaps November 15th
was a new date I should have in the diary to get obliterated from now on? I on the other hand had a quiet evening with room service
and Strictly Come Dancing because that’s how I roll the night before a race.
Getting up in the morning I had my glamorous Oat So Simple and a couple of
bananas before heading to the start line. The weather was not nearly as cold as
the day before and was perfect running conditions. No need for any Gazza songs
today! It was crowded as there were just short of 10,000 people
running. As we set off through the city it was very busy and immediately I
could tell that there seemed to be a lot of elite runners in the field as the
front pack was not thinning out as much as it usually does. The route itself
was 5km out to the Abbey and then back the same 5 kilometers. It was pretty
flat and had a good amount of supporters on the way to keep us going. Each
early KM marker I thought I may have actually been within a shot of my PB which
kept me going. At the half way mark I glanced to my left and caught a glimpse
of the Abbey which was beautiful. I would have been gutted to have missed it
since the race itself was actually called the Abbey Dash. On the second half of
the race I still felt pretty strong up until the 7.5km point where I realised I
was slowing a little and would need to let go of getting a PB and simply aim
for finishing in around 37 minutes. As I went past the 9KM mark I could hear a
guy running behind me who was making the loudest grunting noises I have ever
heard from a runner. He sounded as though he was about to pass out yet he still
overtook me. WTF?! Maybe I should employ that breathing technique in future
races and see where it gets me?
I crossed the line pleased to have hit a time of 37 minutes
and 25 seconds. Not a bad performance at all and just over a minute outside my
PB. It placed me 523rd out of a total of 9,524 finishers. I think
there were a lot of elite runners taking part as usually I would have expected
to finisher in a higher position with that time. So I don’t think I did well
enough to reach the twenties in the Grand Prix and I may have even gone down a
position or two but I will have to wait and see. I will update you when I find
out.
Post run I met another few friends for lunch whom again I hadn’t seen for years. A lovely afternoon was had and I could board the train with really happy memories of my 24 hours in Leeds. My only disappointment from the weekend was that we didn’t get a medal for completing the race! That has never happened to me before and I cried a little bit (on the inside) that they didn’t give us one. Oh well….I guess I should just man up eh?!
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