My Daughter came home the night before from her work placement in Birmingham - stressed!
Her train had been delayed by 3 hours so life was not looking very positive in her eyes!
I suggested that she came with me to run the 10K as a way to de-stress and was very surprised when she agreed! Although she has been running for about 2 year now she has always viewed herself as a "fun runner" with no intention of entering races!
I got up at 8.30am and was delighted when I opened the curtains to see that it was a beautiful bright clear morning - we haven't had many of those up in Cumbria this year!
After my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and coffee we set off for the 23 mile journey to Lancaster.
Being a Saturday morning I was expecting to hit traffic but we glided through the city and arrived at the race Head Quarters in plenty of time for my daughter to register and for me to collect my race number etc.
After visiting the ladies we headed to the race start line in plenty of time for the 11am start.
We stripped off our outer clothing and were ready to start!
I was under no illusion that my daughter would in fact run much faster than me so when the starting pistol fired i said my Good-byes and Good Lucks to her!
The first part of the race consisted of running round the athletics track before heading off out of the sports centre. I got carried away with the moment and ended up running far too fast to keep up with my daughter! My first mile registered as a 7.38 minute mile pace which I realised was ridiculously fast for me!
To make matters worse my calf was also starting to smart and didn't feel too good! At this point I realised I had to swallow my pride and let my daughter get away from me or do some serious damage to my calf! I even considered stopping at the point as I felt "Whats the point" but I was determined not to be defeated.
Despite getting left behind by my daughter I was still determined to do the best I could do under the circumstances and pushed on!
My 2nd mile registered at a more reasonable 8.22 minute mile pace followed by a 8.16 minute mile pace. Up to this point I could still see my daughter in the distance but by now she was long gone!
Mile 4 was 8.39, mile 5 was exactly the same before I tried to push it for the final mile and did a 8.34 minute mile pace.
By now my calf was sore but not agony!
When I re-entered the athletics track for the final lap my daughter and husband were there cheering me on but I was too tired and sore to do a sprint finish!
Despite not getting a PB or keeping up with my daughter I was pleased with my final time of 51:58!
Not bad considering I haven't done any serious training since early January and my calf was complaining!
On finishing not only did I get bling but I also got a flower and chocolate!
What more could a girl want!
There is a race director out there who definitely knows the way to a girls heart!
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