Percy Pud 10km 2012

On Thursday evening during a 10km training run with Lincoln Wellington road runners, I pulled up at 5 miles having felt a sharp cramping pain at the top of my left calf. We had just climbed Lincoln Steep Hill and I guess the cramping that I'd had the night before at swimming must have just spread to other muscles. With that in mind, and not sure how much damage I had done, I turned up at this mornings Percy Pud road race with a different strategy to my normal PB chasing one - take my time, get through the race without injuring myself further and just well bloody enjoy it !

Dressed all in black like some lycra clad Ninja, I arrived at Loxley, just outside Sheffield at 8.45 so that we could park our car up the normal hill and then make our way down to the portaloos and start !
This year we had the added bonus of clear,crisp (but icy) weather whereas the previous two years have been miserable wet affairs. This meant that I was able to have a good warm up as I made my way down to the start with Heidi.

I positioned myself further back in the field than usual as I planned to run a 55 minute race and found myself next to a bloke in a Xmas pudding outfit. I thought to myself rather you than me mate - that looks like heavy work ! And with that, at 9.30 the klaxon suddenly went off and heads further up the field started bobbing up and down and we were underway.

Bearing in mind the calf problem, I started the race very gingerly and took the first undulating mile very steadily. Mind you, to be fair there was nowt else that I could do as it was fairly congested, with plenty of folk running in pairs and groups who were slower than the field around them creating bottlenecks ! First mile then in 9.07 and everything seems OK. Mile 2 thinned out a bit as the early race giddiness subsided and the field began to string out a bit more. We were heading across a dam and skirting the side of Damflask Reservoir and because of the slower pace and bright day, I found myself taking in my surroundings and the beauty that is the South Yorkshire countryside-  it really was stunning ! This second mile came and went in 8.40 something and I found myself gradually increasing the pace as we headed for the turnaround in Lower Bradfield and mile three. The third mile was pretty swift going into Bradfield and the Garmin showed 8-18 to support this.

With the first half of the race over and the furthest point reached in 27 minutes, I felt a little more confident to run a little quicker during the second half. I didn't want to push things too far but wanted to see how it went. I stopped very briefly for some ice water, and then set about picking a few people off as we made our way back. The fourth mile was over in around 8 minutes and I was really enjoying it ! By the end of he fifth mile my pace was down in the sevens and I found myself in the surreal situation of being in the middle of a Santa and Xmas pudding sandwich - so the race to the line was on. I was given a reminder about the calf with a twitch at this point and played it safe - however myself and Santa pulled away from the pud to set up a fast last mile where I can tell you that Santa was just a little too good for me as I came home just behind him in 52.08 - my slowest 10k for around 2 years but also my most enjoyable !


Next up for me is the Stockport 10 next weekend where the same sensible strategy will be in play....