Life Begins at 32 (Fahrenheit) - The Manchester Midwinter Miracle

It's somewhat rare that I do a non-HMCC thing on Sundays this deep into the calendar year, but my 32nd birthday would be somewhat different as for the 14th round of my 2016 race season, and my final ever race day jaunt from Formby, I made the hour-long trip east down the M62 today for the inaugural Key 103 Wilmslow 10k presented by Run Northwest. These guys are already getting quite a following, as they hosted the Alderley Bypass 5 miler on the day I was constantly flaming out on the Liverpool-Chester 100 miler like the sugar monster I am. Today, though, I had a miniature picnic with me to nibble on after a hearty breakfast and this would serve me well as I walked to the leisure centre to pick up my race number only for the very helpful people behind the desk not to be able to find who was on number 1357. What made it somewhat easier for them was that I was also taking it off someone called Robert so if nothing else at least I wasn't racing as Jane, or Melissa, or something like that. The toilets were in a far more hospitable state than on my last two visits to this venue for the Wilmslow Triathlon so I could focus on gently getting my running speed up through my warmup having used some knee high compression socks (what do you mean you've never seen me use them) in the car on the journey down to combat falling blood pressure on freezing cold days. Indeed, freezing cold was perhaps the only way to describe the conditions out there today; indeed the nearest observation point to Wilmslow had the 9am temperature at -1c, indeed sub-32 fahrenheit. This meant that once I'd done some dynamic stretches and a few short runs to somewhere near race pace I sat in the car waiting to change into my race kit at the latest possible moment. However, upon joining the masses at the start line I could at least enjoy the three creature comforts you always expect; two dogs eyeing up your yellow racing flats, hundreds of other runners keeping you warm in the centre of a pack, and the local radio station pumping out music, in this case much of Jess Glynne's back catalogue even though I'm aware that Key 103 is Manchester's version of Radio City Liverpool, the station who keep losing listeners to all things Global (Capital/Heart/Radio X etc). Maybe Capital were too busy with the Jingle Bell Ball in London. Anyway, with anticipation reaching fever pitch, we were counted down from 5 seconds to go a la Ellesmere Port 2014, and before we knew it, we were chasing the specially-selected elite field (who got free entries) for 10 kilometres of fast, cold roads.

My first kilometre was very quick, indeed I passed the 1k board as my watch hit 3:32, albeit with a slight downhill and tailwind. I did wonder if JP would have joined me for this first segment then peel off for the pub advertising "Sunday Dinners Here......12-6pm" but then two and a half hours is a bit long to wait to get a table. The route then took us out of Wilmslow via the traffic island which used to house Royles Jaguar and Royles Triathlon Store, in the days before Trek had to step in, though I must say the new Speed Concept liveries are pretty sublime and where better to set up shop than right next door to a Total Fitness? Well if Edge Hill Sport can't expand further..........We powered onwards to the 3km point, a right-turn for the first incline into "Chorley". No, not the one we regularly use on rides as the last "easy" segment before beating each other up all the way home, rather a sleepy little village not far from Great Warford where one of the marshals even shouted "Go St Helens Tri" (sorry Harry Middleton Running Club, once a red always a red) and it was around this point that you became aware of the Cheshire Plains definitions of "mostly flat". In reality, this meant we had plenty of undulations to contend with for the remainder of the race, and it was around the 4k board that I started calculating things in my mind as to "that's two-fifths of the job done". At the halfway point we were greeted by two things; a timing mat so we could log our pace over each half of the race, and a water station, which wasn't particularly inviting given that it was so cold; if the Leicester Ice Bucket Challenge Experience had been tough, this would surely have left me cryogenically frozen and needing urgent attention for frostbite, indeed my fingers froze up around this point. One person who was more than a bit foolish, though, was the one two places ahead of me who tried to grab one of the available bottles but fumbled the handoff and let it roll perilously across the road, meaning I had to really watch the virtual hand grenade as it rolled one way then the other. Luckily it missed my foot by a few inches and I could set about catching the fast starters who were now tiring, but then again so was I. There's always a point on every hard training session where you think "I'm mot going to finish this" and even more so in a race situation, and today it came around the 7.5km point with my watch showing around 27:40, as I thought "I could really do with stopping here". It happens on pretty much every race where I’m pushing to the max, but to all those who don’t push themselves out of their comfort zone, it’s a timely reminder of what can be achieved at the end of such a struggle. Today’s battle, though, was looking like a close run thing for a 16kmh average speed, as in 37:30, but if I fell off the proverbial cliff I wouldn't even get a PB. Also, the 8km board had mysteriously disappeared and I was praying like hell that the 9km board would surface with a sub-34 time on my watch. In the event it did, with my watch now showing 33:30, but I was more concerned with rounding up a few speedsters, including one from a local club. I overtook him on a right-hand bend and not long after that I saw the "400 to go" board. Although I couldn't see the finish line, as it was hidden around a corner, there was only one thing to do; YOLO! That's right, I now realised there was a chance of a sub-37, as impossible as that seemed, and on the VDOT calculator that would lift me from 55 to 57 status. So I literally ignored my heavy breathing (I'm sure my legs have strengthened up but my heart ends up on overdrive rather earlier nowadays) and bolted for the line............with the clock showing 37:05.

However, it's not your gun time that counts, it's the timing chip. All about the timing chip indeed. So it would be a long wait to get back to the phone in my car while I collected my water bottle, flapjack and medal from the support crew, decided to bypass the free coach ride back to base and instead chat to various other runners about how their race had gone, as well as whether Eddie Jones should get coach of the year at the sports awards. Upon reaching my car I switched my phone on, worked through the happy birthday messages and waited for the Nifty Entries system to message me my result. It said Gun Time: 37:05 and I waited, dreading the "plus one second". Not this time! It was "Chip Time: 36:57" which put me straight into the VDOT 57 division on my birthday! Let's just say an ice cold bottle of water never went down so well. After chatting to the people who'd parked next to me (and were equally happy with their result and astonished that someone built like the next Cleveland Browns quarterback could go sub-37, they're 0-12 LOL) I set off for home down the M56 having enjoyed a memorable day out, and the perfect follow-up to Project Leicester. And given that relatively few headed out for the club ride this morning, what better day to produce a breakout performance?

Now for the results, brought to you by Manchester's second-best radio station, Key 103:

Distance: 10k

Time: 36:57

Average Speed: 16.24kmh/10.15mph

Dogs: 2 at the start line

St Helens Tri Fans: 1 in "Chorley"

Frozen Fingers: 15,730 between 1,573 entrants (didn't bother to count the number of gloves)

Fumble Recoveries: 1 by the support crew at the water station

Post Race Nutrition: 10/10 (Flapjack at the finish, then three pints of Doom Bar and a chicken tikka masala in the pub)

REJECT OF THE RACE: He Who Dropped The Bottle

(I don't think Eddie Jones will be picking him for the England rugby team any time soon)

See you all next week for a couple of hours, then I'm peeling off to get to the St Helens Tri Christmas Breakfast. Extra sausages on order I hope, especially if John and Vikki Lynch have got back into running by then..........