In all honesty, the result of this race didn’t really bother me. I only booked this one as something to make sure I’d keep my legs going between Manchester and Rwanda marathons.

With an 09:30 start it meant I didn’t need to be up that early to get to this relatively local race. I did however make sure I got there an hour before as this one needs you to collect your race number on the day, and I was unsure how long it’d take to get the number. I checked the board but couldn’t find my name, when I tried to get my number they asked if I was there with a club, but I wasn’t. When they rephrased their question to asking if I was affiliated with a club, it led to them being able to find my number.

I wandered around after that, checking out the lake, and then sat on the grass waiting for the race start. There didn’t seem to be anywhere in the shade unfortunately, and then the race start was delayed by fifteen minutes due to the queue for the car park. They made a point of mentioning that everyone should make sure they drink enough water to get round as one year they ran out of ambulances and had to end the race part way through for the safety of the remaining runners.

Eventually we were told where the race start was, and everyone started making their way. I heard one group of people say they wanted sub-1:30, so I moved back a couple of rows figuring that if I don’t want to push it then I’d be more like 1:35. I’d probably moved back too far as I heard someone else in front saying they were hoping for a sub-1:40. I didn’t bother moving though, as where I was would at least encourage me to have a slower start and not get carried away. It was probably for the best too as the first mile was mostly up-hill it seemed, though wasn’t all that bad really.

It was fortunate that unlike Manchester, there was the occasional shaded area, and when it was an option I stuck to it, but I still really needed water before I’d even done 2 miles. Just after 4 miles the heat and hills became too much and I resorted to briefly walking. I tried to keep going as often as I could but after I reached 7 miles I was back to walking frequently.

The water station at mile 12 was such a relief as I’d found any sustained period of running just made me too hot. I slowed down just before the station, took some water, and walked until I’d finished drinking it before getting running once more.

I could see the mile 13 marker just ahead as I slowed to a walk for the final time. I then got running again once I reached the sign and realised the finish was a little closer than I was thinking as I could see runners going in through a side entrance, and not the one we’d left through earlier. I started to speed up, but then hesitated when I found people who had finished were also leaving through the gate so would have to slow down to go through. Slowing down was the right move anyway as it’s then another 90° turn on loose gravel to then run toward the grass and the finish. As soon as my feet touched the grass I sped up until I crossed the finish line in position 151 of 781 finishers with a time of 1:39:52.

I was handed a medal, a packet of crisps, a banana, and a plastic cup of water. The water didn’t last long at all as I was in dire need of fluids. We were told afterwards that year there was just the one runner who was hospitalised from the heat.