10 in 10 - Day 1

I was really excited to get going this morning but didn't really get the chance to think about the race until a few minutes before 10.15am. It was hectic getting a superb, though lengthy, massage in, then dribbling through a straw for 5 minutes to produce a saliva sample, filling in a questionnaire, being stuck with a needle for a blood donation (some of which dripped on the questionnaire, guess they've got a DNA sample too) and being briefed on other research stuff we have to do. I managed to grab breakfast, reply to the dozens of good luck texts (thank you!), sort my kit out and get down to the start where our official vests turned up 15 minutes before the gun went. We had a fake start on the lawn in front of Brathay under the banner which was great, though I'd forgotten my timing device and had to leg it back indoors. It looked a bit like I was doing a runner..

The race started off fine, I was feeling great and full of energy and it was brilliant to see the route again in good weather. Sunny intervals today and a bit gusty, and no rain, hoorah! Anna was running with me for a lot of today, I was leading to about 14 when I stopped for a cup of tea, then I let her do the pacing for a few miles after that before she dropped me. I'd been hit by Sudden Onset Horrible Back Pain (that's a technical term), my period certainly knows how to make an appearance at the worst possible moment. This made the second half really really unpleasant, and I had to kick myself to keep the pace going. And I'd forgotten how hilly it is, much hillier than Connemara, I take all that back. I finished in 3'57 and I'm hoping today is one of the inevitable bad days.

Highlight of today: the professional ice bath, cooled to 6 degrees. Pro footballers can only last 3 minutes, I managed a minute before it felt like my feet were being gnawed off my a thousand tiny piranhas. Excruciating.

Front runners L-R: Ray O'Connor, Steve Edwards, Dave Wintle, Adam Holland