Trimpell 20

Trimpell 20, 6th March 2011

In the car on the way home, I was kindly nominated to write a report on today's race. Although I feel like the captain of the school hockey team reading out in front of assembly – here goes, I hope I've done it justice!!

The setting for this pre-marathon outing was predominantly beautiful although we did encounter a couple of obligatory staffordshire pitbulls and their rather unsavoury looking owners on our travels! It was a relatively well organised set up at the local leisure centre where you could even have a swim afterwards, assuming you could still move of course!

After a lap and a half of the running track, the majority of the race was then run on paths/cycle paths along side the River Lune and we quickly found our places within the field. Nicky, Janine and Gareth led the way and I did my usual trick of tearing off like a looney but by mile 4, Andy Dodd and Soraya were with me and Soraya and I settled into a steady rhythm trying to get to a comfortable 9 minute miling – which we never quite achieved! Andy had gone then in an attempt to chase Sue down. There wasn't a great deal of passing going on, everybody seemed to have their own agenda, just getting another big run in before whichever spring marathon is their goal.

As we went out past mile 10, the Lancastrian countryside came into view and how gorgeous it was on such a perfect running day. There were plenty of water stations and it was well marshalled if a little sparcely supported. Miles 16 to 19 were probably the trickiest as we'd come so far but still had a bit of a trek to go but some uplifting tunes on the old i-pod managed to inject a little light relief, at least to Soraya and whoever else was around, I thought I was just singing along in my head but no, it was to an audience! Soraya was delirious by that point though so it probably sounded great to her!!!

One last lap of the track and we were all done, Soraya and I came over the line together, as we'd run the race, but the miserable bloke said we couldn't do that! As the final results aren't online yet, I can't be sure who they put first but to be honest it wouldn't matter a bit, we had a great day out and it's another big run ticked off. If our results are anything to go by, it all bodes well for our upcoming marathon efforts. I would highly recommend this for the future (especially if Soraya chauffeurs and Andy entertains!). Soraya managed a PB by 6 minutes – well done!

Sharon