Race Report: Leeds Abbey Dash 10k 17/11/2013

My daughter Kat and I both ran this race and combined it with a shopping to see friends who live in Yorkshire. 

 It wasn’t a race that I had planned to do but I was told that it was a flat course and I didn’t want to do another hill after (the ‘sting in the tail’) Congleton half.

The organisation of the race was very good with ample marshals and a good bag drop off point at the finish point.  Because the start and finish were at different locations, there was about a  5 minute walk from the bag drop to the start, but that meant that at the end of the race you finished right by the bag collection point.

For those people who need the comfort of a last minute toilet stop (me and Kat plus hundreds of others) there were ample facilities at the bag drop and more near the start of the race.   Everyone was put into waves at the start according to the time you had predicted on your race entry form and considering there were about 9,500 runners it all went off very smoothly.

My plan had been to try and get under 55 minutes which meant that I had to keep up a steady pace throughout the 10k.   There were a lot of runners but because everyone had set off in ‘waves’ it wasn’t too congested at the start and there was room to skip past a few slower runner along the route.   At the 5k point there was a water station and I had to make the decision whether I needed water more than my PB, so needless to say, I didn’t stop!    At the 5k mark we turned round and ran back along the opposite side of the road and I started ‘ticking’ off the distance to the finish, hoping that I hadn’t set myself too much of a challenge!   The course was flat with only very slight inclines so it motivated me to try to keep the pace up.

At the 8k marker I went into ‘auto pilot’ and tried to think of anything and everything to take my mind off the fact that I had 2k to go.  I was relieved when the 9k marker appeared and knew that I only had to keep going for a little while longer to achieve my goal but then I saw IT, the ‘sting in the tail’.  Well not exactly (more like a mole hill) but for my already escalating heart rate it seemed like it, and it took every ounce of determination to keep going at a reasonable pace and not slow down too much.  As I got to the top I could see the finish line looming ahead so I had a little burst of energy and managed a somewhat laboured sprint finish, giving me a time of 54:50.

At the finish everyone was given a bottle of water, a bottle of Lucozade sports drink and a tech tee shirt.   So having collected my goodies it was just a short walk to the bag collection point, and to find my daughter at the agreed meeting point.  In the end she found me, having just been treated in the first aid tent (at the finish line) where she had apparently fainted into the arms of a young doctor!  She got a PB as well!

No hiccups this time with my Garmin or knowing where the finish line was but the train journey home was another matter!

This is a good PB course and one that I would do again.

For more information visit the website.

Jill J.