BURE VALLEY 10 MILE 30/09/2018

I ran this race last year and hated every minute, feeling tired and achey. I finished in over 1:24 which was not far off my PB so could not understand why I’d felt so low. Howard reminded me that I’d given blood 5 days before the race. When the Blood Service staff give you the little card telling you not to do anything strenuous for 24 hours, I ignorantly thought it only took 24 hours to get over giving blood. No, apparently it takes up to 2 weeks! This year I decided I had to put this race to bed. I didn’t give blood 5 days beforehand, I had a sports massage and hydrated well instead. While driving to Banningham, I realised I could not remember anything about the race last year, other than crossing the finish line on the village green feeling glad it was over. Oh, and the excellent W.I. cakes plus the cute train medal. I had a quick warm up run with a Ruth Pilch and then we were off. I started off running with Ruth and Sonja White who were setting a good pace and once I was past my 4k settling in distance, I was running comfortably and pulled ahead. I took in more of my surroundings this time too and appreciated the friendly marshals plus lots of Jags who had turned out to support. Usually I don’t go in to a race with a time in mind but I had three things I wanted to beat: my bad memory of this race, my lack of mojo from the summer heat wave and my Freethorpe 10 PB of 1:20. I’d got my PB in January when I was Marathon training so I’d decided to use this race as a benchmark to see how much my mojo had come back! I sprinted across the finish in 1:19 and I’m over the moon with 5 minutes off last year and 1 minute off my PB. I had my first sniff of a prize too as I was in the 3rd placed Over-40s Ladies Team with Emma and Sonja. The W.I. did some amazing cake again and there was some chunky bling too! Here’s last year’s finish photo and this year’s finish photo. I think my expressions say it all!

Image may contain: 1 person, standing, shoes and outdoor

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: one or more people, people standing, shoes, child and outdoor

Image may contain: 1 person, standing, shoes and outdoor

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing, shoes, child, tree, shorts, plant, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing, shoes, outdoor and nature

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, standing, shoes, shorts, outdoor and nature

NameTimePBsStandard
Emma Blake1.08.15YES 2nd in Age Group,New Age Group Record & New Club RecordDIAMOND
Graham Johnson1.08.343rd In Age GroupeGOLD
Keith Brighty1.13.11FTGOLD
Julian Smith1.13.36YESSILVER
Howard Harper1.15.14YESSILVER
Douglas Barber1.16.16FTGOLD
Darren Matthewson1.17.17FTSILVER
Vikki Harper1.19.21YESSILVER
Sonja White1.20.10YESSILVER
Lucy Walker1.20.30FT 3rd In Age Group & New Age Group RecordDIAMOND
Ruth Pilch1.22.03SILVER
Ruth Gainsford1.24.36YESGOLD
Clare Hicks1.33.34BRONZE
Paul Gerber1.33.35
Helen Ganson1.33.52FT & 3rd In Age GroupSILVER
Karen Bradley1.35.15FTBRONZE
Sharon Jones1.35.15BRONZE
Marion Bensley1.43.23FT
Samantha Beals1.50.36FT
Jamie Harkin1.52.07FT
Jennifer Norris1.59.17FT