Tag: Leeds 10k

The Leeds 10k 2026

I’m experiencing a rare feeling of quiet optimism as I get to the start line of this year’s Leeds 10k. For once, training has gone surprisingly well and I’ve not been plagued with colds or illness of any kind. No aches or pains of any consequence and no injuries. I am however still fully aware of my age, my heart and my body, so while I’m relaxed as we wait to get going, I’m not kidding myself about my capabilities!

Once we get going, having practically crawled our way through the start, it doesn’t take me long to realise that I feel really relaxed. I’m keeping an eye on my pace and fully aware that I’m probably caught up in the atmosphere and running a little bit too quick, but it doesn’t feel bad at all. Sure enough, my first mile is done in a decent time. I’m not quite in James Brown form at this stage, but I feel good!

Our next stage is a little more uphill and I know I’ve slowed down, but it’s not significantly so. I still feel relaxed and continue to do so for the next couple of miles too.

Up to this point there has been plenty of support out on the course, which is always the case. Leeds is a big, friendly run and people make an effort to come out and offer lots of encouragement. So while for miles 2-3 there’s someone running with a speaker playing Maroon 5 amongst other abominations, there are plenty of spectators out calling out names, offering us high fives and just generally being lovely.

There’s also a bloke running near me at this point who seems to think it’s his job to motivate us – shouting stuff like ‘Get your breathing back, NOW!’ and warning us when there’s a photographer near for some reason. I stay relaxed but can genuinely say that I find this kind of thing really off-putting. Mate, my breathing’s ok, cheers and I genuinely don’t care if someone takes my photo and I look like I’m putting a bit of effort into running. Stop shouting!

Before you turn for ‘home’, so to speak, there’s a big hill to run up. Living where I live, I’m used to hills but usually still find them hard in a race. Today feels different though and while I don’t charge up it, it’s only in the last 20 yards or so where I’m really slowing down. And the bonus is, we get to run back down it on the other side of the road.

At this point I notice that the 55 minute pacers are climbing the hill while I’m descending, but for the first time in the run I’m aware of them and know that I have to keep going to stay ahead of them.

The last three miles or so are spent mainly on Meanwood Road, which is largely just a straight run. It’s pretty much a steady downhill as well; something I didn’t really realise until afterwards when I saw the elevation of the route on a map! I’m content just to keep going at the same pace while keeping an eye on my watch knowing that I there are two hills to come on the way into Leeds and that these would definitely slow me down. I still feel fairly relaxed and strong though.

It’s the final hill that gets me though! It comes more or less straight after the first one on the approach to Leeds and by that point my legs are struggling. Having got to the top I then get a little confused as to exactly what’s left, thinking that the finish is round one corner when in fact it’s the next one. At this point someone shouts out, ‘Don’t let those pacers catch you’ and I know that those 55 minute pacers can’t be far behind. It’s definitely time to kick on!

My kids are waiting just above the finish and it’s fantastic to see them, but by this point I’m fighting, knowing that the seconds are ticking down and that it would be touch and go to get in under 55 minutes. And in the end, despite as much of a sprint finish as I could muster, I missed out by 15 seconds, finishing in 55 minutes and 14 seconds. Damn those last couple of hills!

As will happen at the end of a race, I cramp up quite quickly in my calves and hamstrings so it’s just a case of finding some space for a bit of a stretch before keeping moving in order to collect a well earned goody bag, medal and t-shirt. Whatever age I get to and however many runs I manage to complete, I’ll never tire of a medal and a t-shirt!

After that it’s just a case of heading up to Millennium Square to meet my kids where, despite now being 19, my daughter charges across the square screaming and gives me a huge hug, followed by more muted congratulations from my son. Both knock the medal and t-shirt down into 2nd and 3rd place respectively in my list of rewards.

A few days later and I still can’t get those rogue 15 seconds out of my head. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased with my time. But the competitive side of me still wants to be running faster! Luckily, there’s always a next time. So for now it’s a case of keeping on training until my next race in October.

Power Up signs, smiling more and a bloody cricketer! The Leeds 10k.

Having been forced to miss last year’s Leeds 10k due it falling on the same day as my daughter’s 18th birthday, I was looking forward to this one. It’s an event that I came late to, having only done my first one about 4 years ago, but I always really enjoy the race.

All in all, it was a good day for me. Illness meant that I’d managed less than a month’s training – 7 runs – and only a couple of 10k runs in that time. That said, having pulled out of my last 2 races in April and May, it was nice to feel well enough to even get round one for a change!

I’d been to a gig the night before and so my legs were pretty sore from all that standing and dancing, which resulted in some lovely shin pain all the way around the 10k. Nothing else for it but to grit my teeth and get through it though!

I’d hoped to run it in under 55 minutes, as that was my quickest run in training. Alas, it wasn’t to be! A slow last mile, where I just didn’t quite have the legs to get me up the last couple of hills quickly enough, brought me in slower than I would have liked, but I have to admit to being pretty pleased with my time of 55 and a half minutes.

It’s a brilliant race to do. There’s always lots of support out to cheer you on your way, which actually does help. The route is fairly undulating; some nice flat parts, some lovely downhill stretches, but some nasty hills – particularly coming back into Leeds in the final mile – so it’s a fairly challenging course.

This year, rather than writing some kind of report, talking you through almost every step I take I’ve decided to take a different approach. Sat at home afterwards I had a moment to reflect on some of my favourite bits and some of the things that occurred to me as I plodded my way round the course.

  1. Choirs. There were at least 3 choirs out on the course and all of them gave me, and I daresay thousands of others, a timely boost. The best of them though was outside a parade of shops in Headingley. All wearing black and yellow, all ladies and just sensationally good. I actually ran past applauding. I mean imagine being kind enough to think, let’s get together and sing some songs to those knackered looking people who’ll be going past on Sunday. I just think it’s a lovely thing to do.
  2. A one man band. Near Hyde Park, I think. Just as we were crossing a road to head to a much needed downhill stretch I heard music. Drums, a keyboard, maybe some guitars. And then when I looked it was one bloke playing drums to a background of what I assume was a programmed synthesiser. Just rocking away without a care in the world!
  3. Volunteers. Loads of them. Whether they were at drinks stations or just marshalling along the route, the volunteers are the heart of any event. Sometimes, when you’re feeling pretty shattered and some kind soul in a high viz bib tells you, ‘You’re doing great’ or ‘You’re amazing’ it really helps. Invariably, I’m not but it’s such a lovely thing to hear!
  4. Fancy dress. I’ve never understood the need to run in fancy dress. Don’t get me wrong, I really admire those who do it, but have always felt that it’s enough just dragging myself around without a costume! This year I spotted runners dressed in all manner of costumes; a flamingo, a sloth, a lion complete with mane (this was in about the last half mile and I lengthened my stride, determined not to be beaten by bloody Simba!), a sunflower and a zebra. My son – a little too happily for my liking – also informed me that I was beaten by a man wearing full cricket whites complete with jumper, a bat and all of the padding; a really heavy outfit to run a 10k in on a hot day! It takes a special kind of person to commit to something to that extent!
  5. High 5s. I’m not normally one for a high 5. Not very touchy feely, me. However, whenever I do a race there a families with children who will hold out their hands to get a high 5 from the runners. Again, it’s just another lovely thing about this type of event and I try to go out of my way to indulge at least a few of them. Kids always get a bit of a kick out of it and it’s just really rewarding to hear them laugh or see them smile as you run over. That said, given my sweaty red face, it must be terrifying for them as I approach!
  6. Power Up Signs. The effort that had gone into some of these cardboard masterpieces this year was amazing. If you’re not in the know people sometimes hold signs saying ‘Power Up Here’ or something similar while watching these races. The idea is – like a video game – you touch the sign and receive a ‘power up’. This year people had drawn Sonic on them, characters from Mario and all manner of other stuff. And they looked great. Sadly though, they don’t actually work!
  7. And finally…smiling! The amount of smiling faces who turn out to give some encouraging is always a real positive and I really appreciate. In fact, there’s nothing better than spotting my family somewhere near the finish, smiling and screaming at me. This year though, I decided that it might help my running if I smiled more. Let’s just say I don’t ‘wear’ running well. I look knackered and my face and body must seem to scream ‘HELP!’ to the casual observer. So, for this run I tried to relax, smile and even have a bit of a laugh and I think it kind of worked. Mind you, it didn’t work on the final long hill when a fellow runner dressed head to toe in various dayglo colours took it upon himself to turn Mr. Motivator and shout encouraging stuff like ‘Come on, guys we’ve got this’ and ‘We’re all in this together!’ as well as singing lines from whatever song popped into his vacant head. Smile? It was all I could do not to tell him to shut the f… up!

Anyway, I’m off to find my next running adventure as the next one booked in isn’t until October! I’ll be back for Leeds next year though!

Middle Aged Moans and Creaking Bones.

It’s been a bit of a difficult start to the year in terms of health and fitness. It started with me catching some kind of bug just after New Year, which pretty much knocked me for six. It felt flu-like (I promise it wasn’t just the mythical ‘man flu’) and really didn’t help in preparing for the term ahead at work, as well as the new year in general. And it’s been largely downhill ever since…

A few Sundays ago, I was meant to be running the Pontefract 10k, easily one of my favourite races of the year. Training hadn’t been going well though and the most I’d ran in over a month had been 4.5 miles, which was a long way short of what I needed to complete for a 10k (6.2 miles). Still, despite the lack of miles in the legs I’d resolved to run and just give it everything I had in order to get over that finish line in a half decent time. And then the Saturday before happened.

On the Saturday before the race, I woke up feeling fine. I’d had a decent sleep and was up and showered early and ready to go. The usual Saturday plan is to head to a local country park in order to volunteer for ParkRun or just get some washing in and then head to the supermarket to do the weekly shop. With my son busy revising, it meant that we wouldn’t be volunteering, so once the washing was in I headed to the supermarket where, up to a point, everything was going swimmingly.

Suddenly though, as I headed to the checkout, I felt violently sick and my stomach was turning more than my washing machine. I dumped my trolley and ran to the toilets, just in case – can you imagine the eternal shame of throwing up in your local supermarket? Nothing happened though and so when I felt a little better I rescued my shopping and went and paid for it.

It happened again though, almost the minute that I walked in through my front door. To cut a long, repetitive story short, I ended up in bed, sleeping like a baby for the next couple of hours. On waking up, I realised pretty quickly that I wouldn’t be making the trip to Pontefract the next day.

This was the second race in two months that I’ve had to pull out of. The first one, in April, was just because I felt extremely tired. I didn’t even really want to race, having done the same one last year and hated every second of it! It was only bloody mindedness that made me enter again!

And so, that Pontefract Sunday was spent trying to pick myself up from feeling low and working out how to put things right. I had four weeks until my next race – the Leeds 10k, which is always fantastic. I decided just to take a slightly different approach and resolved to think less about times and distances and just make sure that I get out and run. No excuses, no pondering and deliberating and talking myself out of things…just get out with a minimum distance in mind and run. Hopefully fitness would come and as the race approached I would be able to start preparing properly and getting some longer distances in.

As I write on 2nd June, it’s been going well. I dragged myself out and did a post work 5k on the Monday evening after having missed out on Pontefract and I’ve been keeping going since then with 4 runs in total as well as several long walks and some yoga. My latest run was a Friday morning 10k which was nowhere near as tough as I’d expected and although I was slightly irritated with my time (just over 56 minutes) I’ve told myself that it doesn’t matter and that if I can run under 55 minutes for the Leeds 10k, then that will represent a bit of a triumph.

Hopefully, by the middle of June I’m approaching some sort of fitness. In an ideal world I won’t be struck down by another bout of mystery illness and so be able to just slowly build my strength back up. It’s been good just to give myself a kick up the backside and adopt a ‘no excuses’ attitude.

Roll on Sunday 15th June and the Leeds 10k! Fingers tightly crossed until the actual day though!