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Mary Poppins

The St Thomas 7... another new race, another new location (Upper Tean, somewhere between Cheadle and Checkly) and actually my 13th race in the NSRRA calendar for 2013. This was my spare, with 12 races needed to be  included in the group competition.

A Mary Poppins Kind of Day!
Since my hamstring troubles at Ipstones, I've been taking it relatively easy in terms of training and mileage, but life away from running has been busy so I wasn't perfectly prepared for this race, but unlike the Stone St Michaels 10k back in June when I had to rely on my inner Pollyanna to find some positives from the race, the St Thomas 7 turned out to be practically perfect in every way... much more of a Mary Poppins kind of day.

  • I liked the course - lovely scenery and quiet country lanes. Traffic wasn't a problem and it was easy to work out where I should be running. Even more appealing, there were no off-road sections, so I felt much more sure-footed especially on those downhills;
  • I enjoyed the variety of the undulating course - it was never endlessly up or endlessly down...
This is the elevation chart from the 8th km: Up then down then up then down then up...
  • It was warm but not too warm - perfect running conditions and late September sunshine;
  • I had some great chats along the way with other runners and spotted lots of familiar faces before and after the run - after almost a full season of NSRRA races, I'm beginning to feel ;
  • Nothing hurt more than it should, which was a great relief;
  • The marshals were excellent and very supportive, located at every turn and junction on the course so it never felt like I had to guess which way to turn;
  • I could sprint to the finish. Back at Cheadle, I couldn't quite muster the energy for a sprint finish and just lost out to another Group W runner. For this race, my sprint finish was needed again, this time on an uphill section too, and I managed to hold out against another runner who has been ahead me of me in several previous races - she's not in Group W so no points were at stake, but it was still good to be strong right to the finish and stay ahead;
  • I beat my target race time by over a minute - 58:47 compared with my target of 60 minutes - and managed 4 sub 5 minute kilometres in total. My fastest kilometre (4:36) was faster than anything I've managed in a race this year (even it was downhill);
  • I scored another 50 points with the win in Group W so gained an extra point in the overall standings - 599 out of 600 now - and also managed a few extra points in my age group too, which might help Potters Trotters in the team competition;
  • For the first time in a long time, I felt in control of my race from start to finish. I pushed hard and it felt like I was "back" to somewhere close to my best. I think I can still get a little bit faster but the good training over the last two months seems to be paying off;
  • There were some great results from the other members of Potters Trotters too - a good day all round for the pink ladies;
With Lee, Kate, Kath, Anne and Jane
  • And there were oatcakes in the post-race goody bag.
It doesn't really get much better than that - I was even smiling in the photos! 

At the start!
Still Smiling
Half a mile to go!
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