Derby 10 Mile

The Derby 10 Mile was my first official race since properly committing to the London Marathon 2017.

The reason I signed up for this run was because Nathan's Sister and Mum were running it and I thought it would be great to go down and run too. This was there first ever race and they skipped the pleasantries of a 5km or 10km and jumped straight into a 10 mile one. Talk about inspirational. 

Both Hayley and Nathalie have been running reguarly with their long runs frequenting on a Friday night, when most of the population are lying on a sofa exhausted after a long week or sipping cocktails in a bar to relieve the week's stress. Not these two, they've been out pounding the pavements - commendable to say the least.

Nathan and I traveled up to Burton on the Friday evening (treating ourselves to a Burger King with chilli poppers on the road) and had an early night. Before an early start on Saturday to head to Dovebridge for our first ever experience of Clay Pigeon shooting with Brian and Barbara (Nath's Nan and Pops) and despite the icy cold conditions and the bitter wind, we had an amazing time. Some of us took to it better than other, *cough cough* not me, with Nath wiping the floor hitting 5 in a row! But the real outstanding moment was Brian showing us that his skills of a county player had not lost him and he hit them left, right and centre. We had the best time, but welcomed the hot chocolate and pub lunch afterwards - we'll definitely be doing this again.

Saturday evening, Nathan and I cooked our favourite Zizzi's pasta 'Casserecchi De Pollo Piccante' for ourselves and Nathalie in an attempt to card load ahead of Sunday's race. We tried to steer clear of an alcoholic beverage but nothing compliments this pasta better than a glass of red.

Sunday morning we were up early for a energy storing breakfast of porridge (Nathalie) and Weetabix (me) before heading on the road to pick up Hayley and then we made our way to the IPro Stadium in Derby where the race was to begin.

It was a ridiculously cold start to the day, so taking off our multiple jumpers, tracksuit pants, coats, gloves, scarves was a difficult task.

After multiple trips to the toilet for pre-race nervous wees, we made our way to the start line. I left in a different slot to Nathalie and Hayley and on our way we went. The first 5 miles seemed to take forever as we ran up an A road for what seemed like forever before cutting into Elvaston Castle grounds where the terrain was slightly different underfoot but much better woodland scenery. 

I forgot to mention from mile 4 onwards I started to feel un-comfort in my groin (recurring injury), having had this on the last few half marathons I knew what to expect, however it didn't make running any easier.

As a passed the 9 mile marker I attempted to pick up the pace having no idea of how I was pacing. Finally the end was in sight and I could see the finish and Nathan, Barbara, Brian and Nigel in the distance, it was time to properly pick up the pace for a sprint finish. I was quickly disappointed as I reached everyone and realised I had to loop the stadium one final time. By this point I was totally out of breath, so can to slow job to catch my breath before reaching the final straight for my second 'sprint finish'! It was over and I managed to get a PB, finishing in 1 hour and 23 minutes.

I quickly popped all my layers back on as I was rapidly cold again whilst waiting for Nathalie and Hayley to come through. It was so great to still see them running together and they look comfortable and you couldn't tell it was their first race. They crossed the line hand in hand with triumphant expressions and full emotion. An amazing achievement and we look forward to running a half next year together with Nathan, Jason and my parents to add to the team.

Well deserved glass of red I think and some London Marathon reading.

Race Information

Race: Derby 10 Mile

Distance: 10 miles

Time:1 Hour 23 Minutes

Fastest Split: 5.00 minutes at 4km

Slowest Split: 5.34 minutes at 14km

Next race: TBC (early January hopefully)

xoxo