http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04699s4
After my little stint on the radio I got the train to Bristol. My friend Matt had arranged tickets for the rugby that night and after a few beers I returned to his house in the early hours of Saturday. Not perhaps ideal training ahead of a Sunday race (although honestly I only had three pints and it wasn't that long past midnight when I got in). Others had a few more and were out a little later (Matt, Neil, Cormac & Morgan) although in fairness none of them were running.
Having got bogged down in traffic in Copenhagen I wanted to make sure I got a better start at Bristol. However, I still didn't really push as far forward as I should've in the start pen but it didn't matter too much as the start was in four waves so runners were more spread out. The starts are always congested but once past the suspension bridge it got a lot easier. I could see a lot more road and needed to as it had rained before the start and the roads were wet with puddles I needed to avoid. I had decided that I needed to go for every gap on the out and back section down the Portway as I was expecting it to get more congested as we came back into town on the narrower streets, many of which (as it turns out) aren't in the greatest condition.
I got lots of comments. The usual mix of astonishment and incredulity. It rained heavily but briefly on my way back down the Portway creating more standing water on the course. I was able to avoid the obvious puddles but many of the road surfaces had a thin layer of water on them which absorbs some of the power out of the bounce making it harder work. At about 7.5 miles, not long after I'd crossed a bridge and shortly before I had to cross another one I had a little wobble and suddenly my left foot slipped on the wet road and I hit the tarmac. Hard. Someone handed the balls back to me (thank you, whoever you are) but I had to take a few seconds to compose myself. It was only seconds though and I carried on. Aside from that, I picked the balls up for three things;
1. Where the road was flooded all the way across and everyone was crowding to take the shallowest line.
2. Through the section of old cobbles (I dribbled on the new cobbles).
3. Around Queen Square which has a gravel track.
It's actually more difficult running holding the balls as it disables my arms.
I didn't look at my watch once. I just ran at a pace that felt good. I occasionally asked the runners near me for a pace check but that was all. As I got close to the finish it got a little trickier as I was caught between very tired runners that had spent everything and those that were spending their reserves and sprinting for the finish. The crowd support was great though. I crossed the finish line in 01:57:04 which is five seconds quicker than I did Silverstone in. I can do it faster though and I'm sure I can go under 01:55:00 quite easily in good conditions.
It was only after I finished that things began to ache. I wasn't too bad in the pub for a couple of pints but I then went back to my friend's house and after lunch I had a short nap. When I woke it really hurt just to stand upright as I had landed on my rib cage when I fell and my lower ribs were really bruised. I've also got bruised and scuffed knees and an elbow to match. Coughing and sneezing really hurts still.
So all in all it was another weekend of valuable experience. Thank you to the organisers for letting me take part and thank you to Ben Andrews who put a nice video clip of me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKynh7ljvLM/?hl=en
I'm not signed up for any more races until Silverstone in March but I will find others to do before then, even if I just run them without balls. But for now, I'm going to have a couple of weeks off.
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| Have you checked YOUR balls? |
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