Women's running 10K - ON ROAD!

My lovely friends at 9bar had asked if I would help out with the Women's running 10K in Nottingham. So of course I said yes - after spending a night in the hottest hotel in the world - (I actually did contemplate sleeping in the car as I felt I would have less chance of suffocating)I arrived bright and early to meet fellow 9Bar buddies Nikki Bartlett and Kim Bent. We found the rest of the girls who were running for 9bar and handed out goody bags. I was interviewed before the event to talk about 9 bar and running etc which was good fun. It was only at this point though it dawned on me that this was a road 10K and not a trail one. Anyone who knows me will be aware that "I don't do roads!" never ever! So I was actually not looking forward to this in the slightest. (I really should read instructions more clearly) Much to Nikki's amusement I had already "Googled" her and knew that she was pretty handy over a 10K distance so knew that I would have to work flipping hard to stay anywhere near her. She asked me at the start what my plan was........ "To run as fast as I can for as long as I can....!" - This is of course my strategy for any distance, any race - it involves very little thought! So off we went - I was leading of course for the first mile or so and knew Nikki was on my shoulder - so we exchanged a few words of encouragement and ran close together for the first 4 miles. I had my trail shoes on which were fine and my full Salomon Skort and Slab top LOVE this kit! I had lady number 3 on my shoulder from 4 - 5 miles and could hear her breathing heavier than I was. When I saw the 1 mile to go sign - I kicked it up a gear as I knew this was nearly the end - I couldn't catch Nikki and she crossed the line 20 seconds ahead of me, but I had managed to put a good distance between myself and 3rd place lady. We even got shouts of encouragement from the lovely Nell MacAndrew who was running the race too. A 1st and 2nd place for team 9bar - Doesn't get much better than that. Kim was fantastic taking loads of photos and I will try and link to some of them. It was a hot day and I was delighted with a new PB of 40.49 - the closest I have come to this before was 41.40 a few years back. - Sub 40 is go! http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Women-running-feeling-fab/story-19551200-detail/story.html#axzz2ZxGvikN7