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A is for Amanda, the Andres and the Arrowhead - the Fahrenheit 38 Bowl

Neon Red's picture
on Sat, 24/02/2018 - 14:14

For round 2 of my 2018 race schedule I made the short trip north and west to Hesketh Park this morning for the 93rd running of the Southport Parkrun. It was freezing cold, at least down to Fahrenheit 38 when I got out of the car at 8:20 and as such I was glad of the extra layers I had to warm up in. There was a large field of over 350 runners as this event continues to grow in popularity and today's stars would include yours truly, a couple of Peter Andre lookalikes who appear to have shares in Brylcreem and a lady who's represented Great Britain at the Manchester 10k in the elite race. We were called over at 9am and with the start line five-wide, we were given "on your marks" and then a whistle to set us on our way.

My first kilometre was fast if rather hairy because the early morning frost hadn't disappeared and as such with my balance problems still plaguing me on occasion I was scrambling to stay in a straight line round the tight corners at the lakeside. So while Amanda Crook shot off into the distance never to be seen again, I had the two Andres to contend with. They appeared to be working together as in "let's take turns on the front"........why don't they just buy bikes? It made for quite an entertaining opening lap as I got an armchair view of their battle for best of the rest honours, but I was able to close on them considerably through the trees where the course gets a bit more open. Here, I passed the 2k point with the watch showing 7:06 so I was on course for an amazing time if only I could hold it. Before the race I was thinking 18:00 at best and that a time closer to 18:30 was more likely given how difficult high intensity training has been this past winter. However, the benefit of not drinking caffeine or alcohol is that you can correspondingly go further before running your blood sugar levels dry or getting dehydration and this really helped me sustain a good pace all the way the the tight right hander out of the lake complex, where we started lapping runners, walkers and dogs. The Andres didn't handle the traffic all that well and as such I thought a last second steal of one or both of their podium places might be possible, but despite a last ditch effort on the final climb past the observatory I couldn't get round the and fourth over the line was the best I could do, however it turned out that the second man of this double act had forgotten his barcode so technically that gave me the last podium spot and, better still, first in my age group, meaning I'm now 5-0 in the M30-34 division with a new course PB of 17:38!

After catching up with the dynamic duo and Amanda who deservedly won in an outstanding time of 17:16 (and also likes Focus bikes, great choice there) I went into the park cafe for gluten free chocolate cake; amazing how nice this European style of baking is not only nicer to taste but also doesn't weigh you down. Something that both Britain and the USA have a lot to answer for (and I'm not even anti-America, two weeks in Denver show you what a fascinating country it is). The cake was washed down with hot chocolate then after a second cake/free decaf latte at Booths  it was off to a friends house for a detoxing grapefruit juice as they'd just finished their spin class and are looking to join me at the Cheshire Triathlon on Sunday 20th May. Come 12:15pm it was time to head home but a great first speed race of 2018, with more to come towards Easter as we approach the sprint triathlon season!

Now for the results, brought to you by Brylcreem:

Distance: 5km
Time: 17:38
Record in age group: 5-0
Dogs: 3
Cakes Consumed: 2
Next activity on today's schedule: The football and rugby double header

REJECT OF THE RACE: The two Peter Andres
(One wouldn't do the work on the front, the other forgot his barcode)

Time to head to the pub for today's sporting action. Make mine an Erdinger Alkohofrei please..........

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