On Sunday 20th November 2016 I ran in the 65th Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile road race. This is the oldest 10 mile race in the country.This was my fifth time running this race and I had anticipated getting a PB.
However, I thought I had thrown all my chances out the window when I went Christmas Shopping to Liverpool the day before on a coach trip, which meant I was out the house for 12 hours and shopping for 8 hours!
When the alarm went off I felt exhausted and achy as if I had run in a Marathon rather than been on a Marathon shopping trip!
Thankfully it wasn't an early race so I still got to have a slight lie in getting up at 8.30am.
On opening the curtains the weather conditions looked clear and bright but it felt extremely cold, and I really wasn't feeling it!
I was indecisive with what to wear too! Did I do Long sleeves or brave short sleeves, wear one layer or play safe with 2 layers, wear long tights or risk cropped tights, wear gloves or go with no gloves!
The weather forecast was saying it was going to be cold but I couldn't equate the temperatures on the screen with what that would feel like in real life running!
I finally made a decision and went for cropped tights, a long sleeve T Shirt with gloves! I took more layers with me in the car just in case I decided to change my attire once I got there!
After getting dressed in my "chosen" running gear, I had my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and we left our home town of Kendal at 9.30am to travel the 52 miles to the race HQ at William Howard School in Brampton.
We hadn't travelled far out of Kendal when we hit snow on the motorway and the temperature dropped dramatically. I began to wonder whether I should have worn more layers, luckily I had many options in my bag if needed!
Fortunately, there was only snow on the high ground and by the time we arrived in Brampton at around 10.45am it was just a little frosty, but still very chilly!
We got parked in the school car park easily and went inside to collect my race number.
There was a long queue to collect numbers but it seemed to go down fairly quickly.
By the time I had visited the facilities and got myself sorted attaching my number and discarding my many outer layers it was time to head to the start line for the 11.30am start.
Each year this race seems to attract very fast serious runners and a lot of club runners. Despite this being the fourth time I have run this race I still felt slightly intimidated by the competitive feel of the field!
As this wasn't a chipped event I had planned on starting as near to the front as possible to get an accurate time but this plan was foiled by the masses of others with the same plan!
I ended up in a very congested area in the middle of the pack. We were all patiently waiting for the start when we were all told we would have to move to allow the lead vehicle to get to the front - surely it is blatantly obvious that they needed to get the vehicle out before calling the runners to the start line!
I was pleased l had 10 toes still attached once this vehicle had gone past (YES, it really was that close!), then we were told that the Doctors vehicle had to get from the front to the back so yet again we were all crowding together to make enough room for the vehicle to get past us! I suppose on a positive note if this vehicle had run over our toes it was full of Doctors!
Just as we were relaxing again and re-positioning ourselves a convoy of locals seemingly escaping the village started making their way through the crowds!
Surely it would have been sensible to stop all the traffic at this point and start the race .... but no!
We had to dodge what appeared to be the entire OAP population of Brampton who didn't seem to have a very good sense of "how to drive in a straight line"!
I was seriously worried about my safety as the cars passed us scarily close and we were so compacted in there was nowhere to move to if necessary! I am 100% sure this would not have passed the event safety audit!
In my opinion it was a disastrous accident waiting to happen! All it would have taken was for one of the "Old Dears" to have got confused with the right and left pedals and we would have all been history!
Thankfully, once all the cars had passed and we were all amazingly still intact we were then walked forward to the starting line and the starters pistol was fired!
Despite the race starting downhill I could only shuffle my way along and came to a walk after a very short distance whilst trying to navigate a sharp right turn that was blocked with runners.
After a brief run though Brampton we hit the A689 fairly quickly.
Once out onto the main road the field started to spread out a little and I could settle into my pace although I was slightly worried about slipping on the icy roads!
Despite the congested start I still managed to do a 7.43 minute mile for the first mile, followed by a 7.35 minute mile for mile 2.
This race is advertised as being flat and fast but there is definitely a few hills dotted around, the first being a long slow drag upwards at around the 2 and a half mile mark, but I still managed mile 3 at a 8.10 minute mile pace.
Just after this hill the race turns off the main road to go round via Ruleholme and Crosby on Eden where we came across the first water station serving bottled water. Unfortunately, this water was served with no lids or sports caps so it was very difficult to run with it, so I ended up having a few quick swigs before disposing of it!
On this road the traffic was fairly busy with lots of runners shouting "CAR" to warn runners up ahead! There were a fair few cars weaving in and out between runners so it was a case of being extra vigilant at times especially since the roads were wet with icy patches!
I continued keeping a fairly consistent pace with 8.08, 8.08. 8.09, 8.33 before heading back onto the A689 at around the 7 mile mark. Not long after this there was another water station. Yet again there was no lids or caps on the bottles but I quickly took a Gel to give me some much needed energy washed it down with a few swigs of water before discarding it.
From here it was straight run to Carlisle where there was a long drag upwards at around mile 8. I didn't find this too bad but I found the final mile torturous! I am not sure if it was because I had my eye on my watch and I could see the minutes ticking away but I really started to struggle to keep my pace going and was very tempted to just walk! My stubborn streak wouldn't allow me to do this so I pushed on!
The race offered a good fast paced finish as on the approach to the finish line situated at The Sands Centre, there was a stretch of about 400m where it was all downhill.
I managed mile 8 in a 8.34 minute mile, followed by mile 9 at a 8.38 minute mile finishing with a 8.38 minute mile.
I crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin. I looked and when I saw it said 1 hour 22 minutes 20 seconds I knew I was very close to a PB but couldn't work out whether I was just under or just over!
Once over the line I received a momento coaster and a cup of water.
You can view my run here.
We didn't hang around long after the race as it was still exceptionally chilly, but we stopped off at McDonalds on the way home for a sneaky Big Mac and fries to refuel me!
When the official results actually came out I felt disbelief at how different to my Garmin time it was! I am always just a few seconds different to the official time but this time my Garmin was a staggering 25 seconds different and my official time read 1:22:45. I am not sure that this is accurate but its the time I have to live with!
I was 11th in my age catergory and 418th out of 677 runners.
My PB for this course still stands at 1:22:25.
We got parked in the school car park easily and went inside to collect my race number.
There was a long queue to collect numbers but it seemed to go down fairly quickly.
By the time I had visited the facilities and got myself sorted attaching my number and discarding my many outer layers it was time to head to the start line for the 11.30am start.
Each year this race seems to attract very fast serious runners and a lot of club runners. Despite this being the fourth time I have run this race I still felt slightly intimidated by the competitive feel of the field!
As this wasn't a chipped event I had planned on starting as near to the front as possible to get an accurate time but this plan was foiled by the masses of others with the same plan!
I ended up in a very congested area in the middle of the pack. We were all patiently waiting for the start when we were all told we would have to move to allow the lead vehicle to get to the front - surely it is blatantly obvious that they needed to get the vehicle out before calling the runners to the start line!
I was pleased l had 10 toes still attached once this vehicle had gone past (YES, it really was that close!), then we were told that the Doctors vehicle had to get from the front to the back so yet again we were all crowding together to make enough room for the vehicle to get past us! I suppose on a positive note if this vehicle had run over our toes it was full of Doctors!
Just as we were relaxing again and re-positioning ourselves a convoy of locals seemingly escaping the village started making their way through the crowds!
Surely it would have been sensible to stop all the traffic at this point and start the race .... but no!
We had to dodge what appeared to be the entire OAP population of Brampton who didn't seem to have a very good sense of "how to drive in a straight line"!
I was seriously worried about my safety as the cars passed us scarily close and we were so compacted in there was nowhere to move to if necessary! I am 100% sure this would not have passed the event safety audit!
In my opinion it was a disastrous accident waiting to happen! All it would have taken was for one of the "Old Dears" to have got confused with the right and left pedals and we would have all been history!
Thankfully, once all the cars had passed and we were all amazingly still intact we were then walked forward to the starting line and the starters pistol was fired!
Despite the race starting downhill I could only shuffle my way along and came to a walk after a very short distance whilst trying to navigate a sharp right turn that was blocked with runners.
After a brief run though Brampton we hit the A689 fairly quickly.
Once out onto the main road the field started to spread out a little and I could settle into my pace although I was slightly worried about slipping on the icy roads!
Despite the congested start I still managed to do a 7.43 minute mile for the first mile, followed by a 7.35 minute mile for mile 2.
This race is advertised as being flat and fast but there is definitely a few hills dotted around, the first being a long slow drag upwards at around the 2 and a half mile mark, but I still managed mile 3 at a 8.10 minute mile pace.
Just after this hill the race turns off the main road to go round via Ruleholme and Crosby on Eden where we came across the first water station serving bottled water. Unfortunately, this water was served with no lids or sports caps so it was very difficult to run with it, so I ended up having a few quick swigs before disposing of it!
On this road the traffic was fairly busy with lots of runners shouting "CAR" to warn runners up ahead! There were a fair few cars weaving in and out between runners so it was a case of being extra vigilant at times especially since the roads were wet with icy patches!
I continued keeping a fairly consistent pace with 8.08, 8.08. 8.09, 8.33 before heading back onto the A689 at around the 7 mile mark. Not long after this there was another water station. Yet again there was no lids or caps on the bottles but I quickly took a Gel to give me some much needed energy washed it down with a few swigs of water before discarding it.
From here it was straight run to Carlisle where there was a long drag upwards at around mile 8. I didn't find this too bad but I found the final mile torturous! I am not sure if it was because I had my eye on my watch and I could see the minutes ticking away but I really started to struggle to keep my pace going and was very tempted to just walk! My stubborn streak wouldn't allow me to do this so I pushed on!
The race offered a good fast paced finish as on the approach to the finish line situated at The Sands Centre, there was a stretch of about 400m where it was all downhill.
I managed mile 8 in a 8.34 minute mile, followed by mile 9 at a 8.38 minute mile finishing with a 8.38 minute mile.
I crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin. I looked and when I saw it said 1 hour 22 minutes 20 seconds I knew I was very close to a PB but couldn't work out whether I was just under or just over!
Once over the line I received a momento coaster and a cup of water.
You can view my run here.
We didn't hang around long after the race as it was still exceptionally chilly, but we stopped off at McDonalds on the way home for a sneaky Big Mac and fries to refuel me!
When the official results actually came out I felt disbelief at how different to my Garmin time it was! I am always just a few seconds different to the official time but this time my Garmin was a staggering 25 seconds different and my official time read 1:22:45. I am not sure that this is accurate but its the time I have to live with!
I was 11th in my age catergory and 418th out of 677 runners.
My PB for this course still stands at 1:22:25.
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