"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt



Monday 9 February 2015

Mad Dog 10k Race Review

Woof woof!! Sunday 8th February 2015 saw my return to racing for the first time in (a long) 18 months. The race took place on a darn cold & freezing morning in Southport, a race I'd signed up for twice previously but hadn't been able to compete in due to injury. Southport being the place where, as a high school student, you either went here, or to Liverpool, for a drunken night out***

Anyway, everything I'd heard about the Mad Dog 10k race was positive, and it certainly didn't disappoint; great organisation from the car parking and bus to the start, baggage facilities, and entertainment on course. -The worst part was the shedding of layers and stepping out into the cold February air to warm up.

Warm up I didn't, not until about 4km in to the race anyway!
The out and back course saw the run start off along the Southport promenade before turning back and heading into Southport town a little and past plenty of fantastic singers and those awesome drummer gang/groups.
Despite having a large proportion of the run on the prom, the wind wasn't strong and I only once felt the need (but didn't) to shove my hands down the front of my shorts to warm them up (and before you start frowning, it definitely works - though is somewhat of a skill to keep your balance at times).
With having done zilch speed work, I was aiming for a steady 45 minutes, I even managed to not get caught up in race fever until about 8km in when a lad wearing what can only be described as flip flops made out of car tyres (think Born to Run by Christopher McDougall) decided that he would be posting a faster time than me... That wasn’t going to happen.
In true <insert your running hero here> fashion I tailed tyre feet until the last 200 metres then put on a Mo Farah like dash to the finish line to dip (didn’t really dip) to beat him by milliseconds (wasn’t really milliseconds).

Final Race stats
My time was 43:36 – a time I’m really happy with considering my lack of fitness, and I didn’t feel like I really pushed myself the way I normally would in a race.

The bling and ‘doggy bag’ were excellent; a good quality technical t-shirt, a pair of running socks as well as the usual pens, highlighters and flyers:
 

 


Garmin Here

Strava Here

Final notes 

The Mad Dog 10k made me realise just how much I've missed races; from the camaraderie, to the nerves before the starter gun despite knowing you can run the distance and the swell of adrenaline as you muster up a sprint finish.
 
My only slight disappointment was not running in my club’s colours; I’m not ‘officially’ a member of the club at the moment – something I’m goin to remedy soon J
 
***Alternatively you didn’t go to either of these places for a drunken night out as no false ID would convince any bouncer you were of drinking age.
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