The 2023 Great North 10K

Well, I did it. I finally bagged last year's only failed goal: to finish a 10K event.

• Finished 10K: ✅
• Ran the whole way: ✅
• Got under an hour: ✅
• Beat my time from April: ✅

My official time was 55:07 in the end, which is frankly crackers. I've done plenty of five kilometre parkruns where I've not even managed that pace.

Steve Harper and Brendan Foster getting ready to release the green wave.

There's so much I could write about today, but it's already quarter to eleven at night and I don't want to be sat here when today becomes tomorrow. So let's just bullet a few items:

• The warm-up. I surprised myself by really enjoying and appreciating the orchestrated warm-up. I normally hate being manipulated (that's how I see it), but the guy leading it made it clear it was the best way to avoid injury, so I just went with it today.
• Being overtaken. Lots. I started very close to the front of my wave, as we were all people who'd said we'd take an hour or more. And yet, when we started, I was absolutely swamped, and continued to be passed all the way through the 10K. I never got the chance to set my sights on people to catch and pass, as I was the one being caught and passed.
• Fast start. 🤦‍♂️ The fast starts of those around me, plus the fact they were meant to people who'd do the same pace as me, made me think I was just running too slowly and conservatively. In fact, they were just going nuts. In trying not to get too left behind, I ran the first kilometre in just 5 minutes, which I realised was absolutely unsustainable.
• Little boosts. There were a number of little boosts around the course. Right at the start, I got to high-five a kid who was holding out his hand. Returning to Newcastle over the Tyne Bridge, the DJ from Heart who was on one of their entertainment stations called my name out, which surprised me with how nice it felt. Running alongside various Saltwell Harriers, some of whom had probably descended on Windy Nook the one time I did it, was nice. Seeing the Peruvian band on the Town Moor for the first time in years was equally class.
• Training WIN. I'm pleased to say that none of the gradients on the course gave me particular grief. Sure, I slowed down a bit, but there was nothing like the hills I do in midweek runs around Elswick, Ouseburn, Fenham or elsewhere. Score one for training.
• Water at halfway. The water station at halfway was appreciated but also pretty badly thought out. The bottle drop was less than 100 yards after the pick-up. It's hard enough drinking while running, let alone trying to down a bottle in that short distance. So, mine went to landfill instead of being recycled. 😢
• Mental struggles. The stretch from Northumbria Uni to the Great North Road (past Barras Bridge) was probably the most demoralising of the lot. I'd not drunk enough before the race, absolutely cleared myself out with nerves beforehand, and then not drunk enough of the little bottle I got from the water station. By the 7-8km mark, I was starting to get a headache in the "heat" (15C) and my body was generally complaining. As my mind drifted, I kept seeing people having brief walks, and it would've been really easy to just forget myself and start walking too. But thankfully I held on.
• Aiming for 55 minutes. While my fast start was a mistake, from that point on I had a hope that if I could just hold on to some pace, I might even beat 55 minutes. I had to temper that thought with not overdoing it, mind. In the end, it was really close and the fact I was a little disappointed when I realised I'd not done it is just a measure of how well I'd actually done.
• Sprint finish. Yep, despite being exhausted, I still found it in me to give it one last sprint when I finally clocked how close I was to the finish line. I actually wish I'd seen the finish marker a little sooner, as the adrenaline might've got me under 55 minutes.
• Family support. On getting back to the wife and girls, I was awarded with a much better (homemade) medal than the official one, a home-decorated mug of congratulations, and banners in the windows when we got home. 😊

Will I do another 10K sometime? Possibly. Maybe even probably. But I'm content for now, to be honest. My left (clicky) knee was a bit sore after this one, which made me wonder about the wisdom of doing too many longer runs. That and the dehydration also made me think that progressing to a half marathon is well off the cards. I don't know how people do that; this was hard enough. For now, I just want to get back to focusing on my goals for 2023. And more on that in the next post...