We arrived in Wells in the kitcar so was feeling a little windswept but ready to go. I was running with Barry and we had our own little race within a race but I never seriously thought that I would beat him. The plan was to run with him as he tends to make me run faster and then we would fight to the finish.
We started off pretty fast the first mile in7.54 and after the first mile I couldnt keep up with Barry and I dropped back a bit. The course took us along a main road hot and sticky but then we diverted onto a lovely cool track through a wood. The track became pretty narrow and it was quite hard to pass people and I could see Barry getting further away. The track ended and thats when I encountered it............THE DEVIL HILL. I had know there was a hill but no one had warned me how steep and long it was. But hey I've done my hill training, I have to admit that on the steepest bit of the hill I did walk just a little way but in my defense I was still running at 8 min miles and I just needed to get my breath back. Now the best thing about hills is the top and on this one I wasn't disappointed the views were spectacular, rolling countryside and Wells cathedral. I ran along taking in this fantastic view and then an added bonus was a nice downwards hill. I saw Barry and by the time I got to the bottom of the hill I had overtaken Barry. The course was 2 laps so I was back on the main road. Now I dont normally like laps on races but today I did, I knew that I would be back in the shade of the wood again before long and that bloody hill AGAIN!! I hit the hill again deteremined to run all the way up this time but I just couldnt.......I had been constantly running at about 8 min miles and it was starting to take its toll so I walked a very short distance again. I am sure that I walked faster than I could have ran, you know when the hills are really steep and you start taking tiny little steps to get you up. I took a few large strides, caught my breath and then started running again. I didnt enjoy the view this time round I was concentrating on getting my breath back, fighting of stitch and feeling quite sick. But again there was the downhill. I never used to like running downhill it would hurt my knees but now after lots training my knees must be much stronger because I can really go downhill quite fast. By the time I got down the hill I was feeling slightly better. I felt even better when I saw the 10 k marker. The last stretch was past a beautiful old castle and down through an avenue of trees. This was where my hubsand was standing waiting to take some photographs but he wasnt expecting me to come through so quick and was waiting for Barry to come through first, they both under estimated me!! I crossed the line and thought I was going to be sick, the last mile at 7.47 ( go me!!) The feeling of sickness passed really quickly and I checked garmin, 52.21 OH MY GOD ........result smashed my pb of 57.09. I was aiming for 55 so I was well chuffed with that. The official chip time was 52.34 still a fantastic time. I was 12th postion in my age category and 27th lady in overall. My overall postion 164th out of 342. That was definatly my best race to date and it makes me wonder what I could have done if that hill wasnt there could I possibly break sub 50. I have "battle of sedgemoor" 10 k soon and that is a fantastic course so watch this space. I would just like to add that after astounding race I went off and cycled 17.24 miles as part of my triathlon training.
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