Nick Beer 10k

After a rather pleasant Conwy Half Marathon, of which the most beautiful part was the overlap with the Nick Beer 10k, a lovely training run, and a look at the weather forecast for race day, I was quite looking forward to my first 10k since lockdown. And it was even going to get better: I would have supporters! Or at least one. Marjan had suggested she and Jaco come with me, as she had good memories of waving Jaco good luck at the start, having a nice stroll in beautiful Llandudno, and then being back at the finish on time to cheer him in. She suggested they together would do the same for me! But when the day came, Jaco couldn’t come, so it was just Marjan and me. And that is special for me, as I have been racing since 2011, but I very rarely have supporters. I think this was only the second time ever, and the first time was also Marjan!

We parked up half an hour before the start. I had brought some fake coffee and real cake in order to make sure I had some calories in my system. And in the start area I went for a last leak, and took off all my extra layers. You can just do that if you have a supporter! And the weather was gorgeous. 

At the start

Then it started. I felt good! So I decided to go quite fast from the beginning. I was doing about a km every 5 minutes, and that was uphill. Not bad!

I was cheerfully overtaking quite some women on the way up. Near the top there were four of us bunching together. I figured we would all really try to outrun each other! 

Notice the lovely weather and scenery

Between the 7km and 8km signs I wondered if that piece of cake had been such a good idea. But my intestines calmed down again. And I managed to get ahead of the other three women!

The we hit the promenade again. The last leg! I thought I had a little bit of acceleration in me. Not enough to overtake anyone, and nobody was threatening to overtake me, but still, it felt like the right thing to do. And I saw the counter had only reached about 46 minutes! Not bad. 

 Straining over the finish line

I came over the finish, and got my swag. Water, some snacks, and a memento. And then I went to find Marjan! That wasn’t hard. 

We walked back to the car, and decided to go for lunch. Marjan knew where the cafes were. We picked the first one we came across. I was still in my running kit, and a bit sweaty, but I still felt glamorous. Having posh lunch with a friend! 

When I came home I saw how exactly I had done. A time of 46:09, which was a PB on the 10k! That’s really good, given that it’s not a flat course. I had come in 14th woman (out of 240), and first in my category. Not bad!