Scorcher 10 in 10 day 3.

Scorcher 10 in 10 event Day 3 (I'm only doing 1 day)

We travelled down to near Preston to a place called Kirkham on Saturday afternoon ready to tackle the event on Sunday. Sharon doing the 31 mile ultra version and myself doing the Marathon.  7 laps for Sharon and 6 for me. 

This for me comes 7 days after the failed PB attempt the previous Sunday so I had no idea how it would play out. I decided I would stand on the start line and see how it goes. Starting off with the same tactics as last Sunday but if it felt too much I would immediately abandon that idea and plod around. After a week of recovery runs it was very much see how it felt. 

The first good thing to happen was when we woke it was pouring down and it was still pouring down at the start at 9 am.

 Though after a few minutes it stopped and was cloudy and so much cooler, in other words, it was perfect for running. The weather gods were on my side. 

Saw Mrs S on her way, her start 15 mins before mine then I walked to my start line. There, 25 of us lined up, probably the smallest amount I have encountered.  

Off we went and the rain stopped.  Straight away things felt good so I just went with it as I did last Sunday. But it was plainly evident that the HR was far happier today. I thought I'd see how the 1st lap goes and the decide if to carry on. 

But something strange happened,  I found myself as part of the leading trio. Never been in that position before. 1 chap was doing all 10 Marathon's and said he tries to have a quick start then backs off, the other said he wanted to put in a quick 1st half then back off. So I just thought I'd carry on and see how it goes. 

The lap itself was perfect. Peaceful country roads and slightly undulating with the biggest undulations over the motorway.  But it was a great lap, no big climbs and enough bits to catch up with the pace. Besides the Marathon there is a HM and the ultra going on but even then there was long stretches of not seeing anyone. It's all a very agreeable lap, perfect for a PB attempt. Was also very well marked out though we only to make 3 left hand turns on each lap. The village must of had some competition going on as we were kept company by these lovely figures, bin bag man is my favourite. 

Nearing the end of the 2nd lap I passed sharon and dropped both of the other two runners. For the next 4 laps I was 1, on my own and 2, in the lead. Just take a moment to take that in, me in the lead. I know it wasn't a big field and none of us were elites etc but the fact there was 24 others behind me was a weird feeling, one i sometimes couldn't comprehend.  Not one person passed me, was very strange. There was great camaraderie though and everyone supported each other. 

The laps flew by and i just carried on as best as i can. HR started in high Z2/low Z3 and then high Z3/ low Z4 and eventually going into Z5. 

Fuelling was gels, the 1st was near the end of lap 2 then in the same place each lap. Reason being was I could dump the wrapper at the drinks table and have a slurp, I will be amazed if my drink moments amount to more than 1 minute in total. 

So, lap 4 & 5 I told myself just be sensible and carry on as you are. I was checking times at various distances to see where I was. At 10 miles I was 2:30 ish ahead, by mile 23 I was 6:30 to 7 mins ahead. The whole thing continued to be a shock to me, I was demolishing my old PB and I was in the lead, the whole experience was alien to me. 

Lap 6, the last lap. I knew I was slowing but nowhere near as bad as I have done on previous events, splits were still well under 9 min miles. 2.5 miles to go something else happened that's new to me, a stitch,  I wasn't sure what to do so told myself to block it out, pretend it's not there, which I did pretty much. Other than that things were not too bad, the legs were holding up nicely though quads ached a tad. 

I knew by this time I had a PB in the bag but never knew if anyone was creeping up behind me as I never once looked backwards after the end of lap 2. 

Coming to the finish the organisers see you way before you get there, but they have a microphone and you can hear them very well, hearing this " here comes our Marathon winner, come on Ian " was extremely weird. 

I crossed the line and get a medal and a bottle of bubbles for winning and lots of congratulations.  Again, all extremely alien to me. After a few pics I sat in the car and wondered what the hell has just happened out there. 

I then took a seat in a open sided tent looking at the finish line while waiting for Sharon to finish one more lap, all the time having people coming up and congratulating me, it was very weird. 

Throughout the run all the runners are very supportive and I was getting comments from them that I only hear if I'm  saying it to others, it was like comments were for someone else, was very surreal.  

Thinking about it now, the day after it just seems all the planets were aligned for me. I had no idea what was going to happen, it just did. 

Sharon finished her run and we sat and had coffee and a free ice cream. Sharon had also come 1st in the 50k run, so it was a superb day for us both. 

Stats

Finish time was 3:36:12 so a PB by 7:19

Average pace 8:12

Cheesecake was rated, a whole cheesecake,  eaten wholly by myself. It was lovely.