PUMA Stockport 10 2012

Well the pressure was surely on today. I needed to complete todays ten mile road race in Stockport to remain in the UK Netrunner Grand Prix Group One for next year having not completed a half marathon or ten miler due to injury. Added to this that I'm only 10k fit at the moment and nursing the old sore calf things were looking a little borderline.

Last year in cold, wet and miserable conditions I managed to set a benchmark of 1.19, but this year the job was all about completion and maybe sneaking in under 1.30 to be cheeky.

As I travelled over the Woodhead Pass to Stockport it was bucketing it down and I thought that the race would one again be a soggy affair, but once I arrived at Woodbank Stadium, this had cleared up a bit and I was afforded the luxury of doing a warm up lap of the track in the dry ! I dropped off my baggage (double bin bagged) and made my way to the start, having learnt my lesson from last year and indeed last week and started much nearer the front and away from the very inside of the track. The John Motson soundalike was doing a great job on the mike revving up the atmosphere, and at a little over 10am a rocket soared through the air and when it exploded the race started !

1000 people, two initial laps of the track and the theme from Benny Hill playing - classic !

The route takes the runners through the streets of suburban Stockport and is testing with two large climbs, a couple of slower ascents and some lightening quick descents. By the time I had knocked off my two laps and the first couple of miles my watched showed me comfortably settled into about an 8.20 miling pace. The heavens briefly opened but to be fair I didn't care too much as I was going well and enjoying the early stages of the race.

The first slow ascent is a winding affair which results in a very slippery and awkward decent where at least one runner ruined their lovely bright yellow top by having a roll in the mud after slipping. With this section negotiated it was time to get some breath back, have a gulp of water and make our way to the hardest climb of the day which keeps going up and up and when you think you've cracked it you turn a corner and see that you have to do some more ! I was beat by the top because I attacked the hill but was able to recover on the very long downhill. This was my slowest mile of the day at 9.01, but once I'd completed a further mile of downhill then the mile time tumbled back toward the 8.15 mark.

There is a further hill at 8.5 miles, but by this time I was fairly confident of completion and again attacked the hill - in hindsight maybe should have taken it easier, because the last mile was really tough and I struggled after reaching the summit.  Back into the stadium then and a lap of the track to finish in 1.23.34 ( nearly 4 minutes outside last years time, but happy to complete and stay in League One ! ).


A successful day topped off by an excellent Ronhill event shirt and the ever random goody bag which contained dried maggotts, heating advice, an oxo cube and a radiator key amongst other gubbins !