It has been a busy few weeks!
My 100th parkrun was a fun morning. What more can you ask for really – out in the fresh air, in a beautiful part of the world, with lots of friends. The following week I ran my 100th parkrun at Sewerby. This Saturday was also the last week of the annual points competition and I was vying for third place with another (faster!) runner. I had to be within so many finishing places to take the third place – it was close!
This weekend has been a fab weekend of friends and running – Halloween parkrun……. which means fancy dress at 9am on a Saturday morning. Saturday evening brought a meal out with visiting friends from Newcastle – friends we have made through parkrun. Sunday was the Yorkshire Coast 10k – more to follow. And as is becoming customary after an event, a club meet in the local Weatherspoons for something to eat and a few drinks. Loving this !
Not a surprise then that I’m feeling shattered today and concentrating on the day job is proving a little difficult 😉
Yorkshire Coast 10k
Described as ‘The ‘Biggest and Best’ 10Km road race and Fun Run ever to be held in Scarborough!!!!’ this race starts and finishes at the Scarborough Spa, with the route taking you along the sea front, a short loop into Peasholme Park and then back along the sea front. I’ve run this once before – in 2012, with a finish time of 55:16. I was VERY pleased that it was a calm day with very little wind. As the route is along the coast, if it is windy it can be horrible.
I know that I’m not running at my fastest at the moment, and as I’d pushed a bit at parkrun the day before I wasn’t expecting great things ! After a last minute dash to the loo, we made our way to the start. A bit late so it was very busy, but we managed to get more or less to the 55 min start area for the mass warm up. It is very packed, so you are shoulder to shoulder – not a lot of room to warm up, but within a few minutes we were off. I tried to settle into a comfortable pace and find my own rhythm – my OH running with me for the first couple of miles and I consciously decided to not look at my watch much – but to run to feel. I think I checked three times as it beeped for the end of a mile, but otherwise didn’t look at it to the end.
At roughly half way there is a section of route that doubles back – a great opportunity to try and spot friends and shout encouragement. The last time I ran this I barely knew anyone…… it couldn’t have been more different this time. I felt pretty good by this point, working hard but comfortable so just tried to keep my pace steady and not let it drop too much as I started to get tired. A welcome cheer from club mates as we headed back along the front, round castle corner and back into town. If you look across the bay you can see the Spa and the finish a long time before you are there – I tried not to look!
I had been picking a runner a little way in front of my and slowing trying to catch them up as a way of keeping me going but there was one lady that it took AGES to get to her – we must have been running at a very similar pace, but finally I did. A few hundred metres before the finish the road rises up a short sharp hill to a roundabout before dropping back down to the finish line. I heard shouts of encouragement from the roundabout, but didn’t have the energy to see who it was (big sorry to my son who was the one cheering me on – oopps) and it was everything I had left to get me to the finish.
A big shout out to the organisers of this race for the finish. Keep walking and there was water and fruit, keep going a bit further and t-shirts were being given out, a bit further still and medals and sporks. The medal and t-shirt this year were fab, I love a bit of bling to add to my medal collection.
Finishing time: 53:01
I’d been hoping that I would manage to get in under 55 mins, so you can tell that I was very happy with this finishing time! (10k pb is 52:00 but I know I’m not running on that form at the moment).
Would I do this race again? Definitely! The atmosphere is fab and it is relatively close to home making it an easy one to do. I’d recommend it for beginners too, the way the course is means that there are very few (if any) points that you’d be on your own.
a mile run 
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