Well it almost felt like the Oggie 8 all over again as 4 of us left the Café just before 6pm on Wednesday 14th August to tackle this hopefully flat course. Having set a pb on my House to Waterfall 5 mile training run 2 days before (2010 54 minutes, 2013 down to 36 minutes pretty good motivation for this Johnny come lately) I was setting off with the mind set of Blast Off & Hang on, it’s only 5K!! Dorina & Carol were eager to follow up their achievements in the Caernarfon Race the Train & our 4th ‘team’ member was Carol’s youngest son Daffyd taking part in his first race. As we arrived we were all a bit surprised to see a hill at the very start of the course so I decided to find out more about the route & was soon re-assured by the organisers that the rest of the course was pancake flat, pb still possible then.
The 126 runners set off to the sound of a hooter just after 7pm, my usual tactic of set of near the front whether I belong there or not again paid dividends even though it did result in about 10 people overtaking me by the finish. That didn’t matter as I’d given it my all to beat 20 minutes for the first time as I came home in 19:40 in 34th Place. Dorina soon came into view for the ‘harbour’ loop she’d clearly matched my effort & ordered me to grab her a drink. Her time of 24:30 was just two seconds outside her pb but her watch recorded this course as slightly longer than Race the Train so a pb for all intents & purposes as she finished in 82nd place, she now has the racing bug. Likewise for Carol in 28:56, again a pb in all but name placing her 115th. Well done to Daffyd who’s sprint finish moved him up 3 places to 111th as he came home in a fine 28:21.
Good course that I’d recommend & great to see a good turnout in ideal dry conditions with just a slight head wind here & there.
To put my ‘success’ into perspective I was watching the World Championships Marathon yesterday & Steve Cram & Brendan Foster were describing the leaders as setting an easy pace. They did each 5K in 15 to 16 minutes, a different class, how do they do that!
My thanks to Mike Blake for the mini bus back at the end, you put a smile back on Dorina’s face by saving her from the walk/jog back, much appreciated.
