Tag: 10k race

The Wakefield 10k 2026

As anyone who reads my stuff on a regular basis knows, I love running. It’s something that I’ve done on and off since childhood, but when I had the first of my heart operations 7 years ago it was something I started to take more seriously again. Having my pacemaker fitted 3 years ago then really focused me; I needed to be as fit as possible.

Last Sunday marked my latest 10k race, the Wakefield 10k. This was my third entry and I was pretty much raring to go.

It’s felt like my training has been blighted by injury and illness for more or less the last year or so. I haven’t ever felt very fit and when a race has come around I’ve either went into it having not ran the full distance in training or having only managed a smattering of training sessions.

For my latest Wakefield adventure though I’d had 7 weeks of decent training and despite a cold a couple of weeks ago, had just been getting on with things. Still, I wasn’t exactly raring to go, but I was optimistic of posting a decent time. The weather also went my way too; hardly any wind and it was quite warm too. So everything was just about in place for a good run!

I really enjoy doing the Wakefield 10k. It’s an undulating course and therefore fairly challenging, but it suits me in a way as there are loads of hills where I train. So as much as I complain about having to run up hills all of the time, it means that at least races with hills come as no great surprise. It doesn’t stop me grumbling though!

There are also always plenty of spectators out along the route and they’re always really supportive, which can give you a timely boost just when one was needed. It’s funny how I would consider myself a bit grumpy at times and not really one to join in too much forced fun, yet get me in a race and I’m high fiving kids and pressing their ‘Power Up’ signs left, right and centre! I guess it’s just all part of the experience. I mean, it can’t all be about ending up with a body that aches for days after, but knowing that you at least earned a new t-shirt or a medal!

In the end, I didn’t quite get the time I wanted. I thought I was running well and was keeping an eye on my watch, but on reflection probably went out a little quicker than I should have which meant I suffered a bit in the last two miles. So my 55 minutes wasn’t quite what I wanted. I saw my wife and son in the final stretch of road before the finishing straight and instinctively sped up, but I was shattered!

To add to my problems, they’d moved the finish line back a bit, meaning that when I kicked and started to sprint for the line…it wasn’t there! Well, it was but just further away than it had been before, so that as I turned the corner into what I thought was about another 100 yards or so, it was about double that and my tired legs did not respond well. I managed to steel myself enough to keep up a decent pace, but had let two or three people pass me in my confusion. Never mind!

Such was my effort that I was convinced I was going to be sick as I crossed the line and it was just a case of keeping moving, finding a space and pulling myself together a bit. Luckily, I wasn’t sick!

New t-shirt collected and a bottle of water in my hand it was time to do the usual thing of worrying about meeting up with the family. The layout of the finishing area had changed a bit and I wasn’t sure they’d be able to find me, but just when I was wondering how long they’d be, they appeared. A few minutes later I bumped into a former student – who I’d also met at the same event last year – so that made for a lovely end to my morning’s running. And if running a 10k isn’t reminder enough of your age, meeting an ex student from what must be 15 years ago, with their toddler will really emphasise this!

My next 10k is in Pontefract in May and it’s another hilly one. With that in mind I’m going to try concentrating on some strength work in among my running, as my skinny little legs really aren’t built for hills! And I’ve already signed up for next year’s Wakefield 10k with the goal of being in better shape than I have been in the last 3 years or so and getting a personal best. Even at my age it’s nice to set some ambitious goals!

Jelly legs is feeling his age!

It’s Monday morning and not only am I afflicted by that Monday feeling, but my body aches almost everywhere from head to toe. Worst of all is that nobody else is to blame; this is all my own fault. And now I have a busy day at work ahead teaching students aged from 11-16, not many of whom will have any sympathy for me!

So yesterday, I completed a 10km race. The same 10k race that I was banging on about a little while back in the blog on the link below, complaining that I was never going to be in the right shape for.

https://middleagefanclub.wordpress.com/2022/04/09/my-first-10k-race-of-the-year-a-month-to-go-and-i-dont-feel-good/(opens in a new tab)

It was my second time at the Pontefract 10k in West Yorkshire and I was determined to do well. But training had been far from perfect and I’d been suffering with a mixture of injury and illness in the weeks leading up to the race. However, come race day I believed that I was fit enough to get round in a time that would beat the one I ran at the same event last year. I felt that I’d managed to pull myself together just about enough in the last few weeks and had trained fairly well, completing a couple of fast – for me – 10k training runs that were only a minute or so outside of the type of time I hoped to run in the race.

It was an early start on race day in our house as myself, my wife and my son all rose before 7am in order to scramble down some breakfast and get ready to head to Pontefract, a 20 minute car journey away. The race was starting at 9am and we would need to be there early in order to get parked up before heading to the start.

I’m functional at best in the morning, so it was tough going! However, I really enjoy an early morning run, so while breakfast and getting ready would be a struggle, running – I hoped – would not!

This year’s start line was not the nervy place to be that last year’s had proved. I felt that I knew my surroundings and it helped that I bumped into a friend from work and we chatted for a few minutes until it was almost time to line up. In short, I didn’t have time for nerves. However, I still felt a strange mixture of concern about my fitness and hope that I could run a sub 50 minute 10k.

I won’t bore you with a detailed commentary of the race, perish the thought. I for one don’t particularly want to relive it anymore!

However, it’s safe to say that it was tough. It started to rain on the first long, uphill stretch and I heard someone near me let out a little cheer about this. I should have tripped them up. Thankfully, it stopped shortly after.

The course is described as undulating, but let me tell you that the undulation feels largely uphill when you’re out there. I managed to forget any race plan I might have had and instead went off quickly (for a man of my vintage and physical state, that is). My competitive side kicked in here and I was more concerned with passing people, than thinking about how far I’d gone and how I was feeling. I’d regret this later. I told myself that I’d be able to power through and just keep the pace going, but it’s safe to say that miles 3 and 4 saw me slow more than I’d have liked.

By the time we turned for home and the last couple of miles or so, my legs were like jelly, a substance which for years I was quietly convinced that they may have actually been made out of. Quite a bit of the last half of this race is uphill though, a fact that my mind had rather inconveniently forgotten, so it was pretty difficult to keep on going at any pace, although I managed. For the first time in a long time though I found myself thinking I should just stop, as a few people had. I had a bit of aa word with myself though and kept going.

The final mile or so of the Pontefract 10k is downhill and I was looking forward to just powering down the hill. However, having used up so much energy already my body wasn’t responding in the way I wanted. I imagined a Mo Farah like kick where I just passed runner after runner. Instead, I was much more akin to Moe from The Simpsons as I grumbled my way down the last stretch.

Pleasingly, I did pick up my pace a bit though and kept a close eye on the time via Strava, so I knew exactly where I was with my personal best in mind. Passing my wife and son just before the last 250 metres, I knew I had to go faster, but was convinced that there was nothing left in the legs…not even jelly. However, as someone passed me within the first few metres, something in me flicked a bit of a switch – my competitive side again – and before I knew it I was sprinting. More like a middle aged man laden down with bags on a train platform than Usain Bolt, but sprinting all the same.

I crossed the line in 51.27, a good 25 seconds better than I’d ran the previous year and inside my personal best. I wasn’t sure I’d stay on my feet or even conscious, but I’d done what I’d set out to do! Never had 250 metres felt so long!

Cramp set in as I met my wife and son, but some stretches and a stroll back to car had me feeling a bit more comfortable. But I’d forgotten how much racing takes out of me. I can run 10k on a training run and feel reasonably good hours later and more or less back to normal the next day. Running a race just wipes me out.

The rest of Sunday was spent keeping busy, while also trying to relax, but I woke up on Monday morning feeling groggy to say the least! It’s now Wednesday and although the muscles are nowhere near as tender as they’d felt for the first couple of days of the week, I’d still quite like to just be at home napping rather than at work!

Training for this race was difficult. It was very ‘stop start’ as I seemed to just keep picking up niggling injuries or colds, meaning that some weeks I’d be running 20k and others I’d do 3k at best! I think a lot of what got me through was just sheer bloody-mindedness and a determination not to let myself down. Having got through it quite successfully I’m now planning my next race, which will probably be in Leeds in July, unless I can find something earlier that appeals. For now though, I’m just feeling my age and hoping to recover by the end of the month!