For the second year running, Geth and I did the Blaydon Race yesterday. It’s a bit of an odd distance – five and a bit miles – and it’s always on the ninth of June, which can feel a bit odd when it falls on a weekday, but it’s become a traditional race in the North East. The route is based on the lyrics of the Blaydon Races song, and you get a bottle of beer in your goody bag. It’s a great race.
Sadly neither Geth nor I had a great race yesterday. First of all, it was a really hot day and everyone was feeling it on the route. The start was delayed due to problems with getting the roads closed in time, then roadworks meant there was a bottleneck near the start that slowed everyone down, so Geth went off too fast after that to try to make up the pace, and ran out of energy during the last mile. Meanwhile, I had a few foot issues – a bruised toenail getting gradually worse and making downhill sections very painful, leading to bad form, leading to more foot pain. I then got a stitch that was so bad I was still feeling it this morning. I came in at one hour and thirty-five seconds, which was a great course PB – twelve minutes and fifty-two seconds faster than last year – but I was so gutted not to get sub-hour, which I would have done easily if I hadn’t had all those issues.
Still, the bus queue was a lot shorter than last year, and the t-shirt is more awesome. I will be back next year, presuming I can get a place!