Months of supermarket shopping, steaming of vegetables and actually doing something that resembles mileage finally culminated in me arriving in Inverness for the River Ness 10k. Feeling confident that I would shave some more off my 10k time, I was hugely – and I mean worryingly over enthusiastically – looking forward to this race. Having taken part in this event in 2008, I knew that it had definite PB potential. The starting point is about 4 miles out of the centre of Inverness, and after heading away from the town centre on some undulating country roads, the course then sweeps back down towards the river for the last 5k to be ran on the flat.
The conditions, for me, were ideal. A bit of light drizzle that then turned to heavier rain meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about waiting for the water station at 5.6km as I could simply just lick the rainwater from my face. (I’ll divulge some of my other impressive survival techniques another time).
The closest I could get to the start of the race was about 6 from the front. This tight squeeze quickly thinned out as the race started straight into a hard right bend then onto what is probably the steepest climb on the route.
From then on in, I stuck to my pre-race plan of not going over 3:50min/km pace. I figured that by sticking to this – with a fast start and finish – that I could maybe sneak in below 38mins. This went better than planned as my first few kms showed I was running around 3:42min/km pace. My scattered and overly exerted running brain couldn’t work out exactly what this would equate to over the 10k, but I was determined to stick as close to it as physically possible. I remember there being a few other runners around me, but the only one that stuck out was a guy in orange vest and shorts from Nairn who was only ever a coupla meters in front or behind me. We managed to pass another 4-5 runners on the way to the final stretch, with him putting a little more distance between us both. With approximately 500m to go I was aware of another guy running onto my shoulder, he also went passed me just as we came into what I thought was the final bend. Having seen the banners and hearing the close proximity of the announcer, I decided to make my move for the line. It turned out that what I thought was the final bend was actually the penultimate bend, and I still had another 50-odd meters to run. You can see from my watch stats that I speed up for the final push, then drop off for a second or two as the realisation hits me….then start again as I realise a sub37 is still a possibility. A crazy sprint for the line, and I just reached the finish as the clock hit 37mins. Thankfully, the tight squeeze at the start line meant I had a few seconds grace which brought my chip time down to 36:56. Delighted. Exhausted; but delighted.
I then hung about for a while waiting for Evelyn to finish her race. I walked back the last km looking for her, and started getting concerned that I couldn’t find her. As she had been feeling a bit unwell leading up to the race I started getting images of her having pulled out altogether. It wasn’t until I got back to the finish line again – by this time getting a bit frantic – that Evelyn spotted me and came bounding through the muddy field to declare a superb time of 53:44.
Full results can be viewed HERE.
Photos and video of us finishing can be found
