John Carr 3 - 5k

Running has been taking a low priority for the last week or so. My youngest daughter's wedding at the weekend was a major event, we had a great day, although it meant drinking too much alcohol, almost not sleeping for 2 days & having a house full of visitors for several days. On top of that I developed a bad cold & chest infection. To say that I wasn't well prepared for the final John Carr race would be quite an understatement.

In the series I had a lead in the M55 age group of 21 seconds over Shaun J from Bingley Harriers, so my real target for the race was to try to make sure that he didn't distance me. I really wasn't sure that I'd be able to run properly being dosed up with Lemsips, paracetamols & Benylin.

Somehow I managed to run at a reasonable pace, although I was struggling on the fast downhill finish & Shaun managed to sneak a couple of seconds or so in front of me.....but not enough to put much of a dent in my overall lead. Another Bingley M55 runner also finished a few seconds in front of us this week, so on the night I was only 3rd M55. It's only the 2nd time this year that I've been beaten in my age category, but I can't complain too much in the circumstances & I still got the prize for winning the series.

My time was 17:39, which up until a couple of weeks ago I would have been over the moon about. Now I regard it as being OK considering that I wasn't feeling very well. Some people are never satisfied! Looking at the Power of Ten UK rankings, 4 of the fastest 7 5ks in the UK this year have been set at the John Carr series for the M55 age group. Either it's a very fast course or we have some very competitive old runners in this area (or both).

I feel as though I need a good long rest now, however, this evening is the second race in the Harrogate League series. Given that I'm leading in the senior vets category & we need points in the club team race, I'll have a go at running again. I'm sure that this is a bad idea!