The Blaydon Race

It's that time of the year again, the Blaydon Race. It's a race i've done a few times in the past and always loved running it because of the amazing atmosphere, fast course and good competition.

Last year I finished 5th overall which I was pretty pleased with so I was looking to try and improve on that. The race started in it's usual fashion at the bottom of the Bigg Market in the Newcastle city centre and after around half a mile I knew there wasn't something right with me. I'd felt great during warm up and strides and was raring to go. Unfortunately my legs went very heavy which certainly wasn't normal for me at that pace.

I just tried to forget about it and concentrate on the race and we hit the first mile pretty quickly around 4:35. I kept my head down and followed the pace of the lead group just getting a ride along Scotswood Road. Again the 2nd mile was pretty quick, 4:34 and same goes for the 3rd mile, 4:36. It was during the 3rd mile those heavy legs came back to haunt me. I began to tie up as i'd been fighting the fatigue for the last 10minutes or so and I dropped off the pace of the lead group.

Things then went from bad to worse for me, the next 3 miles were all between 5:00 and 5:10. The lead group of 4 moved away and then another couple athletes got away from me and  I ran the last 3 miles on my own just wishing it was over.

In the end I put my bad race down to a combination of generally feeling rubbish from the off, a quick first 3 miles and seeing the race run away. I was very disappointed with the race but life goes on, i'm positive things will pick up soon enough after all the hard work I did in April and May, I just have to be patient!