Forest of Dean Trailblazer Run (10k)

Yesterday I ran in the Forest of Dean Trailblazer Run, organised by Rat Race (http://www.rwtrailblazer.co.uk).  I was expecting to run it with my partner, but he was I'll with a cold - I was just getting over a cold and had a spot of Achilles tendinitis myself and was in two minds as to whether I should run … these things are quite expensive, so I decided that I'd give it a go, but go gently on myself.

Arriving at the site in my car, I was directed to a parking spot only a minute form the event village.  The village itself was just fine, not quite as many food stalls as I've found at the big city half-marathons.  Registration was quick and easy, the pack I was given even included the safety pins for my number.

There was an instructor who got each wave warmed up before they were led off to the start.  It was a bit of fun, but I didn't appreciate his threats to make us collapse with effort before the run even started - a warm up is just that: get pulse raised and muscles ready and not leave you so flat you can't do the man event!  So I took my own advice and took the warmup easy - and was glad of both the warm up and that I didn't over do it.

The weather was sunny, but it wasn't too hot - I was lad of that.  Running in the midday run, it could so easily have worked out completely exhausting.

When the warmup was finished we we led to the start and had our own private countdown.  I guess there was somewhere between 40 and 60 people, so after the first few minutes we weren't falling over each other.

The course was really interesting: I love running in the countryside, there is no much to see and it can be so peaceful.  But I wanted to try and get a decent time - I wanted under and hour, and if I could under 50 minutes, so I set a pace and plodded on.

After about 5 or 10 minutes I caught up with a girl who was doing the kind of pace that felt good to me - taxing, not going to kill me (given my current state).  I was kind of behind her for a bit, then ahead of her, and then behind again, and then finally we just gave you and mostly kept pace with each other.

At one point we passed a couple of guys and they said something pleasant as we passed - I don't remember what, but I do remember saying "this girl is awesome, she's just pulling me through!"  To which she replied that I was keeping her going!

There were plenty of hills and valleys in the run, nothing too steep, although the first half of the race felt pretty downhill, the latter half felt more uphill: I could feel my glutes really engaging to power up the hills.

With the end in sight, I am afraid I did take off and do a sprint for the finish.  Actually, I think it may have been about 250m sprint - I was surprised that I had it in me!

My final time was 48mins 39secs - and a lot of that is due to Denise, the fab girl who was my accidental running partner for the day!