I automatically typed ‘2015’ first. This race has always been associated with that year for me, because it was my first ever race, ten years ago this month. I’ve thought for some years that I would do it again to celebrate the anniversary.
Ten years ago, the Great North 5k was part of the weekend’s Saturday events, along with the kids’ races, the CityGames and the pasta party. These days it’s just the kids’ races on the Saturday, and the pasta party is no longer in existence (a shame – we used to go and claim about eight bowls’ worth with our GNR tokens!). There’s no more CityGames either, but they do host a couple of elite races on the Friday night before the mass 5k starts, so it’s fun to go along early and spectate on the elites.
The course this year was exactly the same as in 2015 – something I was delighted about, as so many races have drastically changed their courses over the years – though friends who have run it in the interim tell me that it has differed slightly from time to time.
One of the special waves in this race nowadays is in association with Northumbria University, who provide special t-shirts for their team running in this wave. Several Benchies were running in the Northumbria wave this year, as well as a couple of us running independently, so it was a good club turnout!
As it was ‘only’ a 5k (not how I would have described the distance ten years ago!) and not a goal race, I felt comfortable breaking the ‘nothing new on race day’ rule by trying out my new Vaporfly 3s prior to their big test on the Sunday. I didn’t notice I was wearing them during the race, which is exactly what I want from race day shoes (the speed boost from the carbon plates is nice, but the comfort is the real reason I wear Vaporflys).
I ran at about 90-95% effort and sneaked in just under 25 minutes – nowhere near my PB, but I’m not in 5k PB shape at the moment (hopefully next year). That’s more than ten minutes faster than in 2015, which is not bad for ten years older 😀
I’m really glad I ran this race – not just to celebrate my anniversary, and not just because I had such a lovely time with so many friends running and spectating, but also because I had very deliberately taken the summer off racing in order to give myself a break from it – and so I was out of the habit and felt nervous about the logistics again! Easing back into it with the 5k meant I was much more relaxed going into the GNR proper on the Sunday.
But that’s another blog 😊