Race Report: Tynedale 10K

Tynedale 10K

Wednesday 3 July 2019

Pies, Peas and longingly awaited PB’s

Race report by Laura Carrick

Those who know me will know when it comes to races, to say the least, I don’t have the best track record. I love training and run “canny” in it – I’m by no means fast but I can keep up with the lovely lot in group 4. However, when it comes to a race my body and mind fall to pieces and I end up “fluffing it”. I’ve done a fair few races and could probably count on one hand the number of good races I’ve ran.

I always say 2014 was “MY YEAR” – I ran Edinburgh Marathon (long distances ain’t my forte), and knocked out a cracking (for me) 5k and 10k PB (big thanks to Michael Nemeth for the superb 10k pacing train for that one) – however, since then I’ve seemed to be on a downward spiral in terms of running. I haven’t came close to those “golden times” and always strive to “get back there”.

Now I don’t want to jinx anything – all fingers and toes are crossed – but 2019 seems to be going pretty well so far, and Tynedale 10K topped it off. I signed up to the race “in secret”, so to knock a bit of the pressure off. Volunteering at the Bridges 5M the day before – to force me to “rest my legs” and also soak up a bit of the race atmosphere – really got me going. It really made me appreciate how lucky we are to be in a position where we can take part in such fantastic local events, and be involved in the really special running community we have.

So on to the actual race, I rocked up on the start line after the mile and a half uphill trek from Race HQ (I didn’t consider that when I signed up). Alongside myself and the big beaming sunshine (which I wasn’t too impressed by) were fellow Tyne Bridgers Joanne Lee, Laura Irving, Sparrow Morley, Kerry Reed, Gemma Finnie, Jon Moss, Zara Hough, Jevan Robertson, Jamie Wilson, Chris Sumsion, Chris Parkin, Patrick Wallace and Alastair Spanner – quite a small crowd for TBH. I was pretty pleased, no pressure just do what your body is capable of – I told myself as I stood excited at the prospect of an “easy downhill first mile”.

Thanks to Gemma for dragging me up to the front with the “fast lads” – saying this is where you need to be it gets very congested….and we’re off, pummeling downhill thinking I’m Mo Farah. I glanced at my watch when mile 1 clicked…6.51 – Jesus I thought, either you’ve done well and you can cruise the rest of the way or I’ve really blown out and I am actually going to die by mile 3. Just keep going my body told me, as the two Chris’s and Laura went zooming past me on the flat. The remainder of the race turned out to be a mental battle with myself to “just keep under 8mm and you’ve done it”.

The support en-route was fantastic, especially through Ovingham and Wylam villages – and I loved the route. A stunning slightly “bumpy” ride along the Tyne Valley, crossing Wylam Bridge at the half way point, then back along the river track and finishing on a delightfully flat stretch to Prudhoe. The last mile and a half I found really tough; myself and a gentleman from Morpeth Harriers “latched on to each other” and that really kept me going for the final push.

Laura crossing Wylam Bridge

It wasn’t until about 0.8 of a mile from the end that I glanced at the overall time on my watch – at that point reading 41.55. By then I was too tired to do sums, so I ignored it and thought just keep going. The relief when I hit that line and the clock read 48.33 was immense.

Finally, after five long years, I had cracked that pesky PB.

To really top off a good night we retired to the Adam and Eve pub for pie and peas (and obviously a nice cold pint – it was a warm night after all). We hung around to see if the “fast lads” had won a team prize and when it came around to the ladies results, to my absolute shock my name was read out. Unbelievably, Joanne, Laura and I had bagged second women’s team – get in!! Unbelievably in the sense I never win team prizes in races. Or at least I didn’t.

I made my acceptance speech thanking all the “fast ladies for not turning up” – joking…

Thanks to all the lovely TBH for their continued support and fantastic training sessions – you really are an amazing bunch!

Now I just need to crack that 5k….

Laura