Category Archives: 10 miles

Freethorpe 10

It’s the time of year when I am not sure if I am a runner or a cyclist. I tend to run more than bike as it’s a lot safer for starters and after my fall on black ice last January I am not taking any risks on my bike this year.

My running suffered due to my fall, as my side/back hurt every time I ran so I spent all of 2018 taking it easy.

Determined I would start 2019 with my favourite running events, I entered Freethorpe 10, Valentines 10km and Cambridge half marathon hoping I had kept some level of fitness from biking, surely if I can ride 134 miles I can run 13 miles!

Gina Linda & Sally at the start

Gina Linda & Sally at the start

Having just returned from Cyprus and having ran no more than 10km for around a year,I thought I had better do a longer run. So last week I set out to run 8 miles with a friend and much to my delight not only did I enjoy the run but finally after a full year I had no pain or discomfort.

Freethorpe 10 is quite an undulating route for someone that lives in the flatlands, but that adds to the enjoyment, today the weather proved more of a challenge, as not only was it cold but it was also very windy, especially on the more exposed parts of the route.

Then there was the dilemma about what to wear and I had to get the colour right. luckily I made the right choice with short sleeves and gloves, not that they stayed on for long!

Sally with her medals

Finisher Sally

I started with my friends, then after a mile we all settled into our own running pace, running our own race, happy to meet again at the end. Always good to see Geoff at the half way point with words of encouragement.

The route was well marshalled and they were great at shouting out words of encouragement. as I expected miles 8/9 were the hardest for me, especially as they were straight into the wind.

Anyway I was very happy to finish in 1 hour 43, with not even a twinge from my side/back, a few more longer runs and I might just be ready for The Cambridge Half on March 5th.

Fenland 10 and St Neots Half…..

This year I had a plan, I love plans especially when they work and today all those laid out plans came to an end.

The plan was 2 half marathons, one at the beginning of the year and one at the end of the year, in between run a few 10k events while concentrating on my biking through the summer.Untitled

I did throw in one extra run and that was the Fenland 10, an excellent event ran in perfect conditions and used as a training run for the St Neots half.The course is described as flat and fast great for getting a P/B time. The only disappointment was No Medal or T-shirt but I did get a P/B time so the disappointment was short lived !!

I really enjoy winter running especially on cold sunny days so I was really looking forward to meeting up with Gina for the St Neots half, I had been dodging coughs and colds all week so just hoped all would be ok on the day. Our other running friends Linda and Jayne came to cheer us on, it’s always lovely to see a familiar face when doing these events.

Untitled My Race was almost over before it began as when walking to the start and chatting away to Gina I tripped on a loose drain cover coming down hard on my knee and wrist, I felt quite sick for a while with the shock but was just grateful it was not worse,my new 2XU tights could have been torn !!!

After I stopped worrying about my knee we had a  great run on an undulating route, the scenery was lovely in today’s winter sunshine, very different to the 40mph windy gusts in 2015. The supporters, marshalls and organisation made it a great day and we really enjoyed the downhill finish, which made our 13th mile our fastest.

To top it all off we received a smashing bit of bling and a long-sleeved T-shirt

Now I am busy planning for next year, which starts with the Wymondham 10k on New years day which Gina Jayne Linda and I will run together and the idea of running a 15mile event just won’t go away !!!

Freethorpe 10 miler

Freethorpe 10 was my first event of 2016 and I was using it as a training run for the Cambridge half in February.

imageAs usual I was meeting up with my Norwich running friends which always makes these events great fun,this time Linda was marshalling and Jayne was able to join us too, Was also great to have Geoff along to support us and take photo’s.

The weather was cold and drizzly perfect for running not so nice for marshalling but at least the strong winds had died down.

Gina and I decided to run together, although she is usually a faster runner than me her knee had been playing up and she wanted to take it easy !

I am used to running these events now and don’t get as nervous as I used too although I was slightly worried about this one as I had not been feeling my best, so having Gina to run with was good for me.image

The route was more undulating than I am used too but I enjoyed the run and all the marshals did a great job of encouraging us along.

I ran better than I expected too finishing in 1.42 and loved the first bling of 2016.

After the run we enjoyed lunch at the Rampant horse just across the road from the village hall and then had fun trying to get our cars out the car park , a turnip field that had turned to mud after having 700 cars parked on it.