PB = Painful battle!

6th November was the date, Plymouth 10K race was the event. It had been in the diary for a while now and as it was the first ever Plymouth 10K, I was very much looking forward to it.
Myself, Mrs www.daytodavis.co.uk and Mrs C (my friend and my pilates teacher) had decided that the 8.15am start would mean one thing, a night away in a hotel in Plymouth so as to avoid a 1 and a half hour journey on the morning of the race. A great excuse for a girlie 24 hours away.
We booked into the Future Inn, just on the outskirts of Plymouth at around 6pm on the evening before the race. We booked a table in the restaurant to ensure we carb loaded, which we did in fine form with the help of a chargrilled chicken burger and fries, mmmmmmmmmm.

During our conversations over the meal, we discussed the element of pain that you experience whilst running a race. Well, I must admit that I really had never pushed myself to the point of pain in a race before and have always found myself giving myself a bit of an easy ride. It was rather like a light bulb moment for me, I think I just expected to be comfortable in my runs no matter what. Don't get me wrong, I give myself a push and look at my pace regularly, incorporate technical sessions such as speedwork and hills to push my body to become stronger. I have never got to the point of "pain" in a race before and this got me thinking. What could I achieve if I gave myself permission to feel a little pain.
Well the answer was a PB!!
My sleep that night was sporadic to say the least, I had a lot to get nervous about. I was going to experience pain tomorrow and knew I would have to dig deep to get through it. Nervous but ultimately excited!!

The morning came, we gave ourselves time to have breakfast and made our way down to the city centre to meet up with Lenny, a friend from way back who was also running. It was a cold, crisp morning which was a beautiful way to start the day, the potential for the sunshiny day ahead was already apparent. We took the short walk over to the start area, where we deposited our baggage in the Guildhall and then took the opportunity to warm up with a short run around the start area.
We had the inaugural photo:

Before

We also met up with fellow Bude Rats runners, Jo and Tina. These lovely ladies were with Mrs D and myself when we were leaders of the Bude Womens Running Network and had since joined the Rats when the WRN went into receivership.

1200 runners lined up at the start line at 8.15am and Katherine Endacott (GB sprinter based in Plymouth) started the race. The first section was a loop back, which I have to say doesn't do much for my motivation. With my new found need to push myself to the max, funnily enough the second loop back hardly registered and I was just concentrating on keeping up the pace I had maintained throughout. Throughout the course there were friends encouraging their club mates, people running together and marshals who were giving us support. At one point I saw Tina and Jo, was great to give them a wave, Mrs D was close by within the race and Mrs C was ahead after about the 2k mark. As our finishing times prove, Mrs D and I were only seconds apart, she is my role model when it comes to running as her attitude is so positive, she pushes herself to perform to her best and has such a healthy attitude to the sport. Was great to see Lenny and Mrs C at the end as well, cheering us in. Mrs C time was 49.25 Lenny came in at 46.48, my time was 52.13 and Mrs D was 52.16.
Jo and Tina came in at 1.03.57 and 1.06.17. Suffice to say we were all very happy with our times.
Yes, there was pain, but ultimately I beat my last 10K PB by 3 minutes.

As I was constantly being assured by Mrs C and Mrs D over our evening meal the night before, "pain is just weakness leaving the body"!

Does it look like I had been in pain - hint check out that red face!!!

After!!