Liz had always spoken very warmly about this event, so I was keen to have a go.  As there was also a family fun day and fun run I managed to persuade Amy and Adam to come down with me.


This was a big race - 1600 entries, so it was a minor miracle that we did meet Liz, fleetingly, until she took off for a warm up. There were lots of fairground rides to keep Adam entertained and he even had his face painted, which is a first!


 The run itself was on residential roads round town. All the roads were closed;  there were some undulating sections but generally it was a fast course.  I took another 50seconds off the personal best I had set at Southport. Amazing, given how rough I had felt all week. Giving the Killer Mile a miss had paid off!  The goody bag was exceptionally generous - including a pork pie and an entire crate of yoghurt.  I would have come in a fork lift truck if I'd realised.

Liz clocked a time of 53mins, and took her customary detour on the way home.
Unfortunately the kids were not as well looked after as the adults.  The fun run, that Adam had been looking forward to for weeks, was a complete farce. Planned for 1pm, they left 200 children waiting in the rain until 1:30, while the Lord Mayor enjoyed the sound of his own voice at the 10k prize giving.  When the organisers did eventually trouble themselves to attend to the fun run, nobody had a clue what was going on.  As it turned out, it was only a 200m long course, so really wasn't worth the bother.  It was over in a flash.  Adam did at least get a medal and a goody bag.

Notwithstanding this, it was a good day out, and it was nice to go to a race as a family.

 More information can be found on their website.
Tom

 ---
Today I ran the Market Drayton 10K.  My two fellow runners from South Cheshire Harriers with whom I was getting a lift cried off at the last minute due to ill health.  This time I knew where I was going (for a change). I got there with an hour to spare.  The first person I saw was Tom, Amy and little Adam wearing his No.69 proudly as he told me he was running at 1.00pm.  After a quick warm up I lined up with the other 1600 runners. I was told that the route was a bit different this year as it was being done in reverse.  However, I wasn’t too bothered with that as I had last run it in 2009.


 The first kilometre was relatively quick and I got through that in 5 minutes, so my plan was to try and stay at that pace.  At the 4K mark my mate Ann Jones came past me so I tried to stay with her. I was a minute down.  I then saw another old friend in front “G man” I got past him and felt really good. The course was fairly flat with the odd uphill bit but it was not steep.  At 8K a familiar face said “ hiya Liz” so we are at this point again! It was Jo from last week’s half marathon. We encouraged each other along and I was soon at the 9K marker.  

A marshal shouted only half a mile to go but we all know that means nothing. I dug in and when I turned into the school we had a lap of the playground to do. I knew I wasn’t going to get under 51 at this point so just tried to get under 54.  I finished 726th out of a field of 1401 and did it in a chip time of 53.11 (not that great) but I got under 54. The heavens opened up, at least the rain stayed off for the race.  I didn’t see Tom but he did a time of 45.41 (a pb for him).  
This is a good fast course to do and the goody bag is always fab.   We all got a nice navy blue technical t-shirt and of course the big Muller van was at the finish line handing out trays of strawberry yoghurts and special edition chocolate flavoured yoghurts. There was even free sausage rolls and pork pies this year.  It’s an ideal family day out as there are lots of stalls and some rides for the kids.

Liz