Reverse Psychology

I take the bus into work with all my running kit; I shall go straight to tonight’s race, my fifth in ten days. Yeah I know, madness.

Mid-morning the heavens open and stay open. This could make it all very interesting. The BBC assures me that it’s going to be fine and sunny from 4pm... but what do they know.

L gets the bus over later, after work and after a session with her One-2-One trainer. I meet her off the bus near the Market Square in Derby, where there’s quite a crowd assembled because Derby are launching their new shirt today. Not really sure why there’s such a fuss, it’s going to be mainly white with a bit of black on it again, as it has been for the last 125 years. Well at least I hope so but I suppose you can’t take these things for granted any more.

As we walk across Darley Park to the race start, it’s odd to note that the BBC are actually right about the weather. It’s now fine and even quite sunny. I’m wearing my Nottingham Grand Prix T-shirt and I make sure that as many people as possible see it. Just so that they know why I’m going to be slow tonight. Get your excuses in early that’s what I say. L has no such hangups and has promised herself a meal out somewhere posh if she's last. Which seems an odd bit of reverse psychology, or is it?

The race starts at Haslams, the home of Derby Rugby club, on the edge of Darley Park. In the bar they are showing the tennis and I just get chance to see the final death throes of Andy Murray’s Wimbledon before I head to the start.

The race is known as the Colin Potter Memorial 10k. Colin passed away in early 2006, at the age of 40 only weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. This is the fourth running of the race in his memory and to raise money for local cancer charities.

At 7.15pm we start and head across the River Derwent, by bridge, towards the village of Darley Abbey. We run past the temptation of the Abbey Pub, swearing that we’ll be back once we’ve dealt with the race. The punishment for not stopping at the pub is just around the corner in the form of one hell of a hill. Once scaled you turn left and arrive panting on Darley Park, where Wa-hey, it’s slippery. The organiser had mentioned something about slippery sap on the path and I hadn’t quite grasped what he was on about until now.

It’s also a bit narrow here and quite a bottleneck builds up as the course continues uphill, that is if you can get any grip and then Wa-hey again, because it’s downhill, steeply or so it seems. There's more slippery sap, lots of potholes and because it’s congested I can’t see where I’m going. Suddenly the runners in front of me part and one of those barriers that are designed to take the heads off cyclists comes towards me at a rate of knots. Seems they’re also quite adept at having a go at maiming runners too but a quick shimmy and I’m laughing in the face of danger as I slip through that particular decapitation device with only slight bruising to my elbow. I breathe a sigh of relief and count my limbs, just to double check. So I’m not prepared for the next one. I can just imagine the organisers plotting the course, thinking, if the first one doesn’t get them the second one will.

Suddenly I see the chap in front of me move to the right which reveals the next barrier to me, I watch him as he hurdles the wall next to the barrier. I either do a dive followed by a forward roll under this one or I follow him over the wall. After milliseconds of deep thought, I follow him over the wall, which doesn’t have anything nasty waiting on the other side. Phew. Safe. What’s next?

Quite a bit of flat as it happens, followed by a drinks station at 4km which is a bit early, so I don’t partake. Then at 5km we’re back at the rugby club which means we’re go to do it all over again and I’m not a great fan of two lap courses. Thankfully or not, I know what’s coming, so we slog up that hill again where I pass the leading lady, who, horror of horrors is walking up it. So even the best walk, do they? Or is she so confident she knows she’ll win anyway? Ha, well she won't beat me.

Then it’s the descent and because the field has now thinned out, I can see the barriers coming and they don’t seem too bad when you get more than half a seconds notice.

The rest of the second lap goes ok, apart from the absence of a 9km marker which is a bit disorientating.

I think my time of 42.27 was quite good. Slow for a 10k for me but it was a toughie and I had raced five miles only the day before. I go back on the course to cheer L on and see a couple of women just completing the first lap in 55 minutes which is a tad slow but I have to give them credit for getting out there, competing and running for what will be around two hours by the time they finish. Problem is L’s not going to get that posh meal unless she seriously slows down.

L comes in way too quickly and we decide not to wait to cheer the two girls at the back home which is unforgivable really but it’s already nearly 9pm and drinking time is slipping by. We pop into the Abbey for one and then have a few more in the Flowerpot.

Then we get the bus home and as L has failed in her bid to land a posh meal we go for a curry instead.