6 K Run at the 5K Gibside Great Run Local

Race No. 75 Sunday 24 July 2016.

Gibside

Yes, somehow I managed to run a 6K race at the 5K Great Run Local Gibside for Race no. 75 in my Century of Races Challenge.

I could say that there was something spooky about the whole event that day.

Example 1, for the last couple of weeks I have tried to get the results, but each time I checked them it showed only a handful of runners, none of which were me.
Example 2, having ran my 6K rather than the usual 5K, I received a text saying that I had finished in 23.57, my watch said it was nearer 30 minutes.
Example 3, there were photographers present that day taking the usual batch of photographs, for Facebook, etc. Try to find one, for 24 July,  I cannot.

The reality was that I set off too quickly, as usual, running alongside young runners thirty to forty years younger than me. After perhaps 2K I had been dropped and came to a marshalled T Junction, " which way?" I asked. "Left here and follow the path", he replied.

Well, I followed that path all the way down to the River Derwent. Now, I have done both the Saturday Park Run, as well as a number of the Sunday GRL's here, but I have never been down at river level before. I knew then that I was in trouble and as I climbed away from that river I lost a little of my usual competitive edge.

Eventually, I looped back on to the course having spotted the tail end of the race.  I would love to say that I ran through the field to claim my usual position ( in the first 10), but cannot. Instead, I did manage to pass some twenty two runners and finished twenty first of forty three in 30.27. I have given some thought as to whether to record this as one of my scheduled races, in the light of what was to happen to me the following Sunday, in the Wiggle Hell of Hexham ( a cycling sportiff), I decided why not, any pride in my sporting ability has suddenly taken a tumble. Humble pie I can swallow.