Sun - 19/02/17

am
I did the Bramley 10 in just over 73 minutes. I was cruising well at just outside 7 minute mile pace for a long time. I struggled on the hills however and at about 8 miles seemed to run out of energy. Probably the low carb regime that I am doing? My fat burning metabolism is clearly not perfected.

Here is my review for Keith Etheridge ....

All the results are here:                 http://www.chipresults.co.uk/default.aspx I note that Ged Ruffle ... perennial winner of the Great North Run over 60 category is now 65!

Today, for me, it would have been good had it been the Bramley 8.

It was my first race for nearly three months. I paid the price for lack of fitness and struggled for the last two miles but got round in the end. The LCHF diet that I am following may also have had a detrimental effect over the last two miles.

I like this race. TheTravelodge at the M4 Chieveley services is a good base and the food at the Fox and Hounds just down the road at Donnington was pretty good too. I preferred it to the Toby Carvery which I visited last year.

I was back in my room by 8:30 so I was able to get some decent rest.

I know the routine here. It's about 40 minutes from Travelodge to Bramley.  Once parked up it is a three quarter mile walk to the race HQ. The first thing to do is go to the loo. The loo queues (particularly for a sit down) are be massive... but there are gents urinals so the number one queue for gents is usually OK. So I did the loo bit and then put my bag in the bag drop. I did a short warm up and got away to a decent start. I purposely didn't overhydrate after getting up in the morning so I only needed the loo once and I was able to get sufficient water at the water stations on the course.

As I say, I struggled from about 8 miles where Martin Davies, one of the Lliswerry Davies brothers, overtook me. Which was disappointing! However, I may well have beaten Martin had I been fully fit. A couple of years ago I would have been happy with my chip time (1:12:59) but these days I'm hoping to improve on previous targets. I should still be happy but the lingering injury is a worry.

The majority of the Lliswerry Runners arrived at the race in two stretch limos. ... and afterwards went to the White Hart at Shenfield, just a couple of miles down the road from Bramley, where they had a table for 30 booked. Quite a few will probably have got inebriated!

After I had finished I headed back to the car ASAP and I was home shortly after 2pm. Probably before the main bunch had even arrived at their Shenfield watering hole.