A Challenge at Tamworth AC

Tamworth 8km - 35:44 - Ran like a Girl...

Nice course started out by the athletic track & went out round the outskirts of the town - in the Top 20 for the 1st half mile & then backed off & they all started passing me 1 by 1 :-)

Great to see lots of clubs being represented - I'd a look at the results from previous years & it was clear it's a big enough meet -  Clubs from Lichfield to Derby & Oxford made the journey across the west midlands for the event which was great to see  - the standard wasn't bad at all & made the Nuneaton 10km last weekend look very childish.

A good event with the children's run before the main event so a real family day - glad I went.

I woke up feeling like trash - a big bag of Doritoz & a few bars of chocolate at 1am doesn't help the plight but I just don't seem to care do I - Self sabotage at it's finest... dear oh dear - Imagine how effective I could be if I actually looked after myself - went to be early, ate a little better & had more cycling training under my belt..

I got a taxi in & a work colleague brought me back to the house, had a shower & headed into work.

Had a good battle with a local Badgers runner (Rob) & we traded war stories afterwards. At mile 2 I wanted to stop & on several occasions I wanted to throw in the towel - I'm glad I persevered & saw it out to the end but I was a weak as a cat throughout - At work now as I write this (2pm) - working 14 days straight doesn't help so I intent on taking next weekend off entirely so I can focus on college work which will start for me tomorrow evening.

Went through mile 1 in 6:15 which is nothing special at all but is an OK pace - I can just never hold it.

went through mile 3 in 21:30 so I faded badly in the latter half of the race with my last mile I nearly came to a walk entirely & then rolled into the line back at the track.

Happy I went, the highlight of the morning for me was the fact that when I went to warm up - My legs felt real achy (classic shin splints) so I took it real easy for the warm up & thought, how can I even run the distance if I can't run without discomfort - thankfully it wasn't too bad so I just jogged a half mile max for a warm up - in between periods of walking.


Once the gun went off it was as if my legs forgot about the discomfort - it's phenomenal really how the body works..

I actually could run after the race too - no problems - discomfort but by Wednesday I should be fine to run again...

So, looking good for Loughrea - get an 8 miler in with some sprints also - some rest & I should be good to go for race day in a fortnight.

So, in summary, I was genuinely tired going into the event & used it as a good training session. Entry fee was £12 so not a rip off either - well done Tamworth AC. I'm looking forward to their 10km now in 3 weeks time.