I'm on 16.2!!

I'm in there somewhere!

Myself and my other half drove down on Saturday. We set of from Stockport late in the morning. Multimap had told us it would take around four hours but that is without taking the M6 into account. Over the last few weeks the traffic on that motorway seems to have averaged around 30mph every time I get on it. I travelled to Cardiff two weeks ago and didn't get on it until I was south of Stafford. I had to take the A roads becuase the motorway was so snarled up. Last Saturday wasn't much better. We got off at Knutsford, back on at Sanbach, off at Stoke, back on at Stafford trying to avoid the worst of it but we managed to get there in plenty of time for the runbritain road show where we were joined by race directors from all over South Wales to talk about what runbritain does, what the vision is and how it can support road races around the UK. It was the sixth show that we have done and have more booked: 20th October in Manchester, 3rd November in East Yorkshire and 1st December in Durham.

The road show was the second event of the day. Prior to this the race directors had been on the inaugural Race Directors Course where they had covered subjects such as working with public partners, legal and administration issues, medical considerations, briefing marshalls, health and safety and how to make the most of IT. There will be more of these courses on offer in other areas of the country soon.

After we had finished the runbritain presentation, which included a good look around this website, we had the grand finale of the evening. This was a seminar with double Olympian, Steve Brace and former World Record holder and current UK Record holder for the marathon, Steve Jones. The race directors stayed on for this session and were joined by a host of international athletes who were in Swansea for the 10km the next day. The two Steves spoke to the audience on several topics. They gave us an insight into how they lived and trained and the key factors that contributed to their success. These were hard training with training partners who were also of a high standard, family support, plenty of opportunity for competition and races that celebrated high standards above mass participation. One of the topics that stimulated much discussion was the demise of these road races that offered good incentives to the elite runners and put money back into the sport. They have been replaced with charity races where, in the case of the big marathons, 60% of runners are first timers who, after having ticked the box of having done a marathon, move onto another challenge such as climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and never do another race again and so don't contribute to our sport at all. The seminar provided good food for thought to race directors and athletes alike.

By this time it was 8pm and time for dinner in the Village Hotel which is one of the race sponsors. Both Steves stayed on for the dinner and so discussions continued around the tables and some of the athletes took the opportunity to pick their brains further. After Nigel Jones had given the invited athletes their numbers for the following day it was time to retire for a good nights sleep before race day!

My other role this weekend was as team manager for the athletes representing the North of England. These guys and girls are experienced runners and don't need a lot of managing so apart from making sure they all had a number and pins, a chip, a bed for the night and transport to the race I didn't need to worry about them too much and so I started planning my next manoeuvres for runbritain.

Nigel Jones is race director extraordinaire of the Swansea Bay 10km and puts on a top class event. Not only does he encourage fast times and great performances with good prize money and a car for any athlete that breaks the course record but he also ensures opportunity for raising money for charity and giving the masses a great running experience. Amongst his achievements this year he had recruited the opera star, Katherine Jenkins to run the race with a group of her friends for the charity Hafan Cymru. He also organised for her to call me on the morning of the race for a ten minute ipadio interview. Before I went to sleep I planned my question so that I could be concise and to the point and not take too much of her warm up time!

Breakfast in the morning was with the athletes on the team and just a case of checking that they had all slept well, were looking forward to the race and knew where to go when they got there. Then it was off to a quiet spot for my interview. It went pretty well except I forgot to ask her my key question....you know when you're out running and you get a tune stuck in your head that you sing along to with the rhythm of your stride? Well I wanted to know what that tune would be for her. Would it be something from The Marriage of Figaro maybe ...or Ave Maria? It seemed I wouldn't find out now because I had forgotten to ask her!

Off we went to the race and to meet up with the athletes in the Inter Area tent. They were all there before us and busy warming up and putting their racing shoes on. I wandered over to the tent next door. This tent was for the VIPs. I was chuffed to bits to see Katherine and her team, also warming up and took the opportunity to say "hi" face to face and to ask her the question that I'd missed......the song that she sings as she's running is "Baby" by Justin Bieber and she gave me a quick rendition!! Not quite as impressive as a ditty by Mozart but I guess it is the simple songs that tend to be those that stick in your head on a run!

So with all the pre race stuff done there was only one thing left to do now and that was to get down to the start line and be ready for the 10km. I haven't done much racing at all in the last decade and I haven't done a 10km for about nine years. At least I think it's nine years. I can't actually remember which one it was! I decided to put myself in the middle of the crowds after looking around at the other runners and deciding that they looked about the same speed as me. How do you look at someone and decide they are the same speed? Well the first thing I looked for was runners carrying their own water bottles! Anyone running under 40 minutes isn't going to be carrying one! The second thing I looked for was footwear. I didn't want to be standing near anyone with a pair of racing flats on. The next thing was leggings rather than shorts on the women. Mind you, I had my shorts on - it was a hot day!

As I stood amongst my fellow runners I had an uneasy feeling that there was something I'd forgotten to do. Well - it wasn't that I'd forgotten I just didn't have time after running around taking photos and talking to people before the race. I hadn't been to the loo! I knew that I needed to go but figured that as soon as I got into my running the feeling would go. That's what used to happen when I used to race seriously. I never really needed the loo - it was just the nerves. I wasn't feeling at all nervous but hoped the feeling would go anyway.

Eventually we were sent on our way by Katherine Jenkins and I enjoyed the run out with plenty of people around. I was trying to hold back a little because I knew we would have the wind in our face when we turned at 5km and the last thing I wanted was to struggle on the way back. As we passed the 3km marker the feeling of wanting the loo still hadn't gone and I began to realise that I would have to stop at the first public convenience I saw. This arrived just after the 5km marker in the car park that was the turnaround point. I don't know how much time I lost but I could have been quicker...you know when you get to those buildings and see that you've approached it from the wrong side. The women's side was on the far side so after a lap of the building I did what I needed to do and jumped back on the course where I left off!

Running the last 5km was good for me. I was further back in the field than I should have been and so was passing people all the way to the finish. I just dipped under 45 minutes. This is a full 10 minutes slower than my best ever time that I ran 16 years ago! A minute per kilometre slower! Oh well - it's a bench mark for me to try to improve on and now I've got a handicap I've got an incentive to find another one soon! Now where's the calendar?