Today was the fourth time I’ve done the Run Sunderland event – I did my very first 10k there in 2016, then the half marathon in 2017, then back to the 10k for a good PB last year. Given that my legs are still recovering from London a fortnight ago, I wasn’t expecting much from today – but it turned out to be a good race under the circumstances.
Geth was doing the half marathon this year, so I was on my own setting off. The field felt a bit more crowded than usual, so it was pretty frustrating trying to weave around people during the first half of the race, and I probably went out a bit too fast as a result of trying to get past the crowds. As such, I felt myself flagging a bit during kilometres six and seven, and I didn’t really get my energy back until the last eight hundred metres of the race.
Because of this (and the fact that four months of marathon training has really brought my speed down), I was very surprised when I turned onto the finishing straight, saw the race clock, and realised I was on for a PB! I finished in 1:09:13, which was forty-three seconds faster than my previous best, also set at Sunderland last year.
After a San Pellegrino and a nice bit of victory cheesecake in the coffee shop nearby, I wandered back to the finish area to watch for Geth coming in at the end of the half marathon. He got his sub-two-hour result, which was the aim for today’s race, and after a recovery sit-down we headed back to Newcastle on the Metro for a quiet afternoon of pub, synthwave, and pizza.
I’ll be back again next May for year five and hopefully another PB, given that I won’t be coming off the back of a marathon next time!