10K Lancaster Flood Relief - January 2016

Today Sunday 31st January 2016 I ran in the Lancaster Flood relief 10K.

One of my Ladies from my "Women on the Run" running club was running this as her first 10K and I said I would run it with her. So consequently this was a very different experience for me compared to my usual races!


I got up when my alarm rang at 8.30am and enjoyed my breakfast of porridge and coffee! Usually I have to force my breakfast down on race morning but I had no pre-race nerves today!

I left my home town of Kendal at around 9.30am for the 23 mile journey to the race Head Quarters at The Salt Ayre Sports Centre in Lancaster. The weather on leaving Kendal was wet and cold and the weather on arriving in Lancaster was similar! It was a little ironic really that the race was set up to raise money for the flood relief appeal to help locals who lost everything in the December floods ... and it was raining!

We arrived and got parked easily at around 10.15am, then went to collect my race number and visit the toilets.

I had arranged to meet Sharon at 10.30am in plenty of time for the 11am start.

After meeting, we huddled under shelter trying to keep dry and warm before the start.

The race started off with one and a half times around the race track (I hate running on a track!) and then we went out onto the cycle track, before finally going on the cycle path.

I said to Sharon that I would run at whatever pace she ran.  

However, the excitement of the occasion mixed with the start being around a track with spectators watching meant we set off way to fast!

After about a mile and a half Sharon was struggling and we walked for a little bit to enable her to catch her breath.

When we started running again we kept a slower pace which Sharon managed to maintain.

As a "supporter" it is very difficult to get it right!  There is a fine line between chatting to keep her mind off the task in hand and talking too much so she gets exhausted replying!

I am usually an exhausted middle of the pack runner who's only focus is to get a PB, not really taking much notice of my surroundings or other runners.  Today was very different!  I enjoyed the scenery and was amazed by how many of the "front runners" shouted encouraging words to us as they looped back past us!

Anyhow sharon did marvelously well for her first 10K (she hadn't even covered the distance in training!) and the rain didn't come on too heavy so the conditions weren't too bad!

She had set herself a goal of a 1 hour 10 minute finish and kept asking "are we on track still?".

As we approached the finish line with another lap of the track to go I informed her she had 2 minutes to get to the finish!  I was amazed how she was able to accelerate and she really pushed herself to get over the finish line in her desired time. Unfortunately, we were just over -  finishing in 1:10:11!

As I said to her, she now has a time to beat next time!

After crossing the line we were rewarded with a Snickers bar, a banana, a medal and a long sleeved T Shirt!  The T Shirt actually states we had done a Half Marathon! I said to Sharon she needs to wear it and everyone will be impressed that she has gone from couch to HM in 18 weeks instead of couch to 10K!

Supporting a new runner around a race is very rewarding and far less stressful than pushing for a PB yourself!

I am hoping one or two of my other Ladies will be encouraged by Sharon's success and want to enter some races themselves ... watch this space!