Swineshead 10
By Richard Inchley
Having sort of been inspired by some great running at the MK Tour last week as well as some gutsy performances hanging in there all week, I thought I should put away the marshal vest and put on a race number!
No messing about with Park Runs, 5 miles or 10Ks, let's go for a 10 miler! As I have not run that far since The Lanzarote Challenge half marathon in November 2013, it was perhaps a little adventurous. A nice sensible 11.30am start, except it was starting to get warm as we set off from the village of Swineshead in North Bedfordshire.
The pace for me was sensible but I'm afraid the many inclines slowed me as I am far from fit. The faster runners would call it a pretty flat course as testified by a 54 minute winning time by a Serpentine runner who with lots of other Serps arrived by coach and dominated the prize giving!
It's a lovely event run from a village hall, with a BBQ a bar with real ale at £2 a pint (half price at the end), cakes and an ice cream van. So my priorities were sorted once I had crawled over the line in 1.28 something! On behalf of slower runners such as me nowadays, can I just say that Chris's man-flu affects the elderly worse, and the pain for us is as much as the fast runners but lasts a lot longer!
I have now got just 11 weeks to get fit enough to run The Challenge respectably, so I may have to reduce the golf and go to Lanzarote for some warm weather training for 11 days!!!