Andy Reading 10K, 9th December 2007

A few PBs on this course. Marie won the wine again: race report below

Race report by Marie

It was a cold, windy, wet winter’s day. Oh wait… I’ve already done that one. The highly trained athletes were gathered in the hall, keenly eyeing up the competition. Would Derek shave that extra second off his time? Would Larry take away the Club Championship trophy again this year? Would the queue for the ladies eventually get shorter?

There was a smell of heat rub and bacon in the air. Tensions were building as people began to run across the warm-up field. And then… we casually strolled to the start, chatting about the pros and cons of wearing a hat and gloves, and trouser bulges (when you take the gloves off and shove them down your trousers). The gun went off and we began a 200 metre shuffle before the race opened up and we could start gathering speed.

From post race talk I think the race went well for everyone, if you don’t count Denise almost being sick at the end (but not quite!). A couple of pbs were achieved, helped, on my part, by running through puddles, splashing people and telling them their laces were undone so they’d move out of the way. The men were being rather modest about their runs but I presume they did well as nobody appeared to be sulking in the corner, and they did at least get the hot showers.

I was pleased with my results and have learnt a few valuable lessons along the way which I feel I should share with you (although they won’t make you run faster):

1)      Don’t go into the toilets with your ipod about your person, they are liable to fall down the toilet

2)      Dropping ipods down the toilet makes them not work

3)      When someone tells you the boiler’s broken, just take their word for it

4)      Cold showers are rather unpleasant

5)      Stick insects don’t make for very good company in the pub