Morning Campers :)
Here's my Sanddancer 10k race report for 2009
Got down to the coast none too early for a change - had left the house when I realised the van was running on fumes, so I had to make a bit of an emergency detour for some diesel. Filled up and headed onwards, getting to Gypsy's Green around 10ish. Met up with a few club mates and collected my number.
What different weather conditions to last years race. It was a blizzard before the start last year, and folks were huddled up next to the pub trying to find some shelter. This year couldn't have been any more different. Blazing sunshine, and a light cool breeze. Lovely.
Did a bit of a warm up with Michael Bunn and the lads, then headed back to the start. We seemed to have a pretty good club turn out, including Maria & Michelle, so almost a ladies team ;)
Whistle was blown and we were off!
Took it nice and steady on the first lap, but the sun was getting a bit stronger and I could feel myself overheating in the 'out of the wind' parts of the course. We ran up the promenade, then up onto the leas path, not quite as far as Marsden before heading back north and down towards our second lap.
I managed to stay with Graeme for almost 3/4 of a lap which I was quite happy with, went past Jimmy, before Mick the Mackem and Frankie strolled past. Tried to pick it up a bit on lap two, and caught a few folks, but the lads were too far ahead by now to catch. I'm sure I did a quicker second lap round before we headed back down off the leas and onto the promenade again. I saw Lynn Marr from Tynedale ahead of me, I half thought I must be doing canny, before I realised she was injured (calf cramp - hope you're ok now). Steamed as best as I could around the stadium and into the finish.
Approx finish time 47 mins (won't know for sure till I see the official results), and a good 3 mins slower than last year. This kind of equates to the 3 months off - lost a minute of fitness per month, but at least I know how far behind pace I am for future races.
Still, despite the overheating, and lack of fitness I managed a silver in the North East Vets L35's :D Joanne Dooley for Tynedale got the gold, but I know there wasn't a cat-in-hell's chance of catching her, even if I was fit as a fiddle.
Happy enough with the outcome, but slightly dissapointed with the time. Will have to make up for it next year.
Happy running folks!
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