I find it hard to believe that 2016 is the 4th year I’ve run the Trowse 10k.
It’s become something of a tradition now to get up stupidly early on Easter Sunday for the 9am start, then be in the pub by lunch time celebrating.
In 2013 I ran in snow flurries, in 2014 I ran it with an injury, and in 2015 I ran it in ,well, pretty perfect conditions actually. This year as I spent Saturday evening listening to gale force winds and rain lash the streets I thought this year might be the year I didn’t run it at all as 9am on the day the clocks go back to run 6.2 miles in pouring rain and winds didn’t sound fun AT ALL.
As it happened Sunday morning dawned chilly, but bright, and a jacket and sunglasses were in order. I’m probably overall in the best condition I’ve ever been, though I haven’t been running much, so my goal was to finish faster than last year, which was 1:03:50. Though I was feeling pretty knackered after playing in Norfolk Roller Derbys Eastern Sur5al tournament the day before, so it was anyones guess how ready I was for that evil hill.
At 8:55 we all obligingly headed off to the start line.
A few minutes later a car came through the start pen, carrying a man waving a large pair of bolt cutters out the window.
10 minutes later, just as I was starting to wonder if I had time to shoot back to the Snow Park and nip back into one of the portable toilets, they finally started the race. I am afraid I am still none the wiser as to what caused the 10 minute delay, or what the bolt cutters were for.
And so we ran. twice round the village of Trowse, meaning twice up that evil hill, that gets less evil every year, actually, and twice down the nice free wheeling down hill on the other side.
Wheeeee!
That 10 minute delay meant I was desperate for the toilet for most of it. Did that mean I ran faster or slower? Who knows. I also changed the settings on my watch so I inadvertantly had no clue of what time I was at, only my current average pace. Did that help or hinder? Who knows.
All I know is that at the 9k mark I heard a couple in front of me say we were at about 56 minutes and I thought “Oooh, that’s not bad!” and found a little extra burst of speed that took me through that last half mile and across the finish line.
And I felt OK for once. Chip came off, medal was collected, and I could already see I was about 3 minutes faster than 2015. My watch said 1:00:55, so that’s what I put on my obligatory Instagram medal picture.
Actually my final chip time was 1:00:49 seconds. Not only over 3 minutes faster than last year, but actually the fastest I have ever run the Trowse 10k. In fact, apart from that one time I mysteriously managed to run the perfectly flat Marriots Way 10k in just under an hour, it’s my fastest 10k ever.
So I’m feeling pretty happy with that right now.
