I hadn’t raced since the Nepal Marathon during the previous year, and my hope was that I could have a winter of training that would help me get to the point where I could set new personal bests for each of the distances I run. The first of the races I hoped to PB at was the Ashbourne 10, though sadly I missed a lot of runs in January and February as training didn’t go to plan for one reason or another.

By the time the race day arrived I’d just about turned training back around but was nowhere near where I wanted to be. In fact, I had no idea what sort of pace I’d be able to sustain on the day. This was compounded even more when I saw the forecast was for wind and rain, and that it was going to be almost freezing out. I don’t mind running in the cold, and I don’t mind running when it’s raining – the two together though I’m not so keen on. It helps though if the rain doesn’t start until I’m already running as at least then I’ve had time to generate some body heat. I’d decided I couldn’t PB at this race and would instead take it as an easy training run.

On the way to Ashbourne it started to rain, and didn’t stop until I got home a few hours later. I arrived at the Ashbourne Leisure Centre a couple of hours before the race so stood around waiting for the race start, trying not to get too cold – I’d at least found a spot that sheltered me from the rain. The positioning of the leisure centre was good for race HQ as we’d be all be running along the Tissington Trail – a former railway line which cuts through the Derbyshire Dales. The route has a crushed limestone surface so my hope was that it wouldn’t be too bad.

Today there were multiple distances being raced concurrently so to start with they sent the 10 mile runners off. After another 5 minutes it was then the turn of the canicross runners along with 10K runners, and the finally the 5K runners behind us. During the race briefing everyone was told to keep to the left due as everyone would be doing an out and back route, no matter what the distance.

As the canicross runners had to start at the front of the 10K pack it meant I was on their heels immediately, but couldn’t easily pass them. Whilst standing outside, my prescription glasses which have reaction lenses went dark so that when we went through the tunnel at the start I couldn’t see a thing. A couple of runners had Saint John’s ambulance medics assisting them after falling off the path and twisting their ankles.

The trail then dips down and goes back up sharply – the only real hill during the entire route. A little after the initial dip I ran out onto the muddy embankment to pass the last of the canicross runners. I’d already found myself passing runners doing the 10 mile race as well and for the next 3 miles I found myself having to frequently run out onto the embankment, slipping and sliding across it, in order to pass runners that were in some cases running three or four abreast. Some would also run around onto the right-hand side, despite the notice during the race briefing, to avoid the puddles in the path.

I’d started off the race leaping over puddles to avoid getting my feet too wet as well, thinking they might blister, but after how muddy and wet they got whilst passing I eventually stopped leaping over puddles and just ran straight through them. Before I got to the turnaround point I’d started to think that instead of setting runners off by distance they’d have been better off sending the fastest 10 mile runners off first, and then after a few minutes send off the rest of the runners organised by expected pace. That way those doing the shorter distances, which usually allow for a faster pace, wouldn’t be hitting the back of those doing the longer runs.

I eventually lost count of the number of times I slipped on the embankment, but somehow I never got to the point of falling over completely. After the turnaround point the oncoming runners, for the most part, were more considerate and would move over to their left-hand side to let people pass. It started to become more fun, though it seemed strange to not be pushing myself in a race. As my Achilles tendon had been sore recently I didn’t want to risk it getting worse when I’d still got a 22 mile training run to do the following weekend.

Not long after the turnaround point I started to pass 5K runners travelling in the same direction as me though at this point there were very few of them. Eventually the oncoming runners stopped as well, so all that was left was the occasional 5K runner in front. Occasionally I could see another 10K runner in front of me, but I had no intention of trying to catch them up. I wanted an easy run, so much so I was actually wearing a hoodie and a disposable poncho to keep my top half dry. Of course though, me legs and particularly my feet were drenched. My toes had also gone numb, but I figured I’d only be out running for less than an hour so could cope with that. It was impressive how many people had turned up to brave the heavy rain in fact.

By the time I got back to the dip in the trail the rain had seemed to have slowed down. I decided not to risk going to fast on the downhill though – thinking that with it being wet I might slip. The up-hill bit was pretty muddy as I had to run across the mud again to overtake. I’d been waiting to see the tunnel again for ages on the return journey – but it was finally in front of me. Knowing I’d barely seen anything going through it the first time I looked ahead for silhouettes before entering it.

As I ran through the tunnel I came across some runners that were running the full width of the path and wouldn’t let anyone overtake. My only choice was to take a measured stride off the path and onto the gravel, speed passed them, and jump back onto the path. The timing was lucky though as a few seconds later I was around the mid-point of the tunnel where once again I couldn’t see a thing so kept running forwards and hoped for the best.

Eventually I was close enough to the exit for the path to be lit again, and around that point I started to wonder how far it was until the finish. I couldn’t remember how quickly we’d entered the tunnel on the way out, but I soon found that it wasn’t that far to the finish. As I reached the funnel to the finish I decided as my legs still felt fresh I might as well sprint to the finish to give them something to do. It didn’t last long, but it was faster than I’d run in months.

Crossing the finished I noticed that there were probably about a dozen people at most around, though a lot of them seemed to be 5K runners. I noticed one of them had a print-out of their time, so hoping that I’d made it into the first 10 I went over and got mine printed too.

I finished in chip position 4 with a time of 43:03. I was pretty shocked! I knew it had felt like an easy run, but my time suggested it was barely a steady run, and a minute slower than what I’d normally get through the first 10K of a 10 mile tempo training run in. There was a time not that long ago when this would have been a time that seemed unimaginable to me during a race, but things change.

What surprised me more was the position – even more so when I noticed I was the 2nd in my age category. In a proper race I’ve never come this close to a podium finish, and it gave me some hope that maybe one day it’ll be possible. Although not physically demanding, the race was tough mentally due to the rain and cold weather (it took a lot of effort to convince myself to run in this rain). I’m glad I did it, though now I’m thinking that it might be worth doing this again next year to race it properly.

Sadly the printed result was incorrect as when the official results were released I’d finished in position 6. I thought I was still quite a way from managing a podium finish, but then it was revealed that some runners had started with the wrong race. Once the results were updated to correct this my final position was determined – 2nd male, and 3rd overall. My first podium finish!

My next race should hopefully be the Coventry Half Marathon – I doubt I’ll be ready to run a PB there, but I’ll see what the legs feel like doing!