I set my alarm for a 7am get-up and had my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and a banana.
Luckily the weather was clear and dry although rather chilly.
There was a number of us going from Women On the Run, my Running Group so we met at the local leisure Centre at 8am so we could travel in convoy. We left our home town of Kendal at around 8.15am to travel the 55 miles to the event headquarters which was situated near the Fairhaven Lake which is on the coastal road through Lytham.
We arrived in Lytham just after 9am and got parked on the main street close to the start line. I collected my race number without queuing and as we were so early we went to a nearby cafe for refreshments. I can't eat or drink anything so close to running so I didn't partake in the coffee!
At around 10.45am, after a brief toilet stop we headed to the start line for the 11.05am start! I said my Good-Byes and Good-Lucks to the rest of our group before positioning myself near the front of the masses.
There was a Remembrance reading, then the last post before a 2 minutes silence.
After a count down, we set off and went around the lake, before heading back along the coastal path towards the windmills.
In the early stages of the race there was plenty of spectator support cheering us on, and the weather was actually perfect for running!
I have run this race before in 2014 and it still stands as my 10K PB, so I had my sight set on improving on this and getting myself a new PB!
I ran the first mile in a 7.55 minute mile, mile 2 was slighter slower at a 8.02 minute mile and mile 3 was at a 8.12 minute mile.
At around the halfway point, just as we were looping back at the Windmills we had to run approximately half a mile across muddy grass which felt hard going, especially wearing trainers suitable for road not mud!
There was also a water station with bottled water at this point. I took a bottle and had several swift gulps before discarding the bottle and continuing on my way back along the coastal path to the lake.
By now I was starting to feel tired and I ran mile 4 in 8.20, then mile 5 in 8.24 Glancing at my Garmin I knew I wasn't far off my PB if I could push a little harder, but my legs weren't responding and I ran the final mile in a 8.25 minute mile.
I found the final half mile endless as I could see other runners looping back towards the finish whilst I was desperately still battling around the lake!
The route heading towards the finish line was lined with spectators cheering us on which encouraged me to keep pushing but as I crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin I was disappointed to see I hadn't P.B'd!
My Garmin stated a time of 51:56 compared to my PB of 49.38. I was disappointed but also exhausted so knew I had done my best!
I was handed a medal and a bottle of water, unfortunately there was no wagon wheel that we got at the last race!
However, I was lucky to get a medal as some of my Ladies from WOTR who finished after me didn't get one as they had run out! Instead they got a letter explaining why they didn't get a medal! They have promised to post one out to everyone who missed out. Apparently they had had a problem with their suppliers and immigration!
You can view the route here.
Once everyone in our group had finished we headed into town and found a nice cafe and enjoyed fish and chips washed down with a pot of tea!
It really hit the spot!!!
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