Talwrn to Llanbedrgoch race

I thought the season of Wednesday night races was over! What with the evenings drawing in. But I was wrong. And when I saw 5K race I had never heard of, on Anglesey, I couldn't resist the temptation. It would be a few days after the Caernarfon Half marathon, which was long enough a break, as far as I was concerned.

The race went from Talwrn to Llanbedrgoch. That's a bit unusual; normally the start and finish are at the same location. This created a bit of a logistic question. Would I park at the start, and just run back after the race? Or would I park at the finish and run the course in reverse as a warming up? Or would I make things easier on myself? I went for the last option. I decided to drive to the finish with my bicycle in the back of the car, bike to the start, run the race, then drive back to the start to retrieve my bike, and then go home. That sounded fine to me.

I also realised, looking at the map of where the race might actually go, that it came past Jenny's house. I dropped her an email. Maybe she was home and wanted to wave? But she was away. She did point out that her husband was running it.

The weather forecast wasn't too bad, but I wasn't taking chances so I did wear my waterproof jacket and helmet cover when I biked to the start. And that was not futile! Within minutes, it absolutely came down in buckets. And there was nowhere to shelter. I was soaking in my shoes before I had even reached the start.

On the way to the start, after the deluge

It didn't take me long to park up, register, and go to the loo. Then I had to wait a bit. Initially I just kept my jacket on and my bag with me. There was a bag drop; your stuff would be transported to the finish in a van. That's handy, but it did mean you couldn't lose your extra clothes at last minute. And it was still raining. And I found Jenny's husband and had a nice chat with him.

When there was noise coming from the start and I figured they were doing the race briefing, I stripped down to what I was going to wear in the race, handed in my bag, and went to the start, where it turned out there was a warmup going. And now I was rather scantily dressed for the temperature, so I enthusiastically participated. 

Finally it was time to actually lineup. It was Kevin, one of the trainers of Track Tuesday, who was sounding the starting horn. Even though he was running the race himself! That must have been a bit slapstick. But I was too busy starting to pay attention.

Kevin about to start us off

I knew we would start uphill. I had a pace in mind for the whole race, but I knew that it would be futile to try to run it from the start. I was running at some pace that felt good. And I was keeping an eye on a few people. In the beginning I was leapfrogging with old rival Arwel, and I could see in the distance Richie, who I had beaten a number of times recently, including on Sunday, but he had remarked then that one day he would be the one beating me. Which I had confirmed. This might be the day! I also saw Laura, who also runs Track Tuesday, and who I normally leave behind.

It was dry now. The kilometres ticked by, and things were going ok, but I figured there were still a lot of women in front of me. And it was likely to stay that way. Emma was there, and I figured she would win (like she did with e.g. the Caernarfon half and the Breakwater 5 mile) but there were a lot of other fast women.

When we only had one kilometre to go I realised I was not too far from Laura. I decided to make a concerted effort to overtake her before the finish. And it worked! I could hear she was straining a bit, and I still had some more in the bag. So I got past. And then I finished.

Laura and me near the finish

It wasn't a really good time but I was okay with that. I just went to have a nice chat with some other Eryri Harriers, including Ian, who had won in the male category. And Emma had obviously won in the female category. And I went to congratulate Richie, and confess to Laura I felt a bit self-conscious about overtaking her so close to the finish. She thought that that was exactly what you are supposed to try to do in a race, and she did have a point. I also had another chat with Jenny's husband.

I’d done it in 21:59. A lot slower than my PB on the 5k! But you can't have your day every time. And I was 6th woman, which is good, but only 3rd in my category, which by my standards is pretty bad. And I had almost been 4th in my category if I wouldn't have overtaken Laura.

Then they did the presentation. Except Ian and Emma I didn't know any winners. The fastest under 18 was a 12-year-old boy! It's quite amazing if he can outrun any 16- and 17-year-olds out there. And Arwel had missed out on a category win by one second.

Emma receiving her prize

Then it was time to go home. Arwel wanted a lift back to the start, which I was happy to give him. I had to go there anyway! And we had a nice chat (in Welsh) on the way there. I didn't realise he had worked for the university as well! Before he retired. And he tried to recruit me as a marshal for a race on Saturday.

When we got back to Talwrn I put the bike back in the car, and could go home. It had been a nice race! And I suppose it now is the season for getting seriously rained on on race day. I might as well get used to it!