Stockport 10, 10th December 2006

Report by Jonathan Dabbs

A wet and windy Sunday morning greeted 8 MTC members at the Stockport 10, but we were all keen to see how fit / unfit (delete as applicable) we were. I knew I wasn't in race form, but that didn't stop me setting off at my usual race pace. After a mile though, it was brought home how much off the pace my fitness was, and after a 5:20 first mile, I realised I needed to go at a somewhat more sedate pace to even get round in one piece. A result wasn't on the cards, so let's just enjoy it eh?? 5 miles came and went in a very enjoyable 30:10. The second half of the race was more uphill than downhill, so I wasn't going to break the hour, but that was fine, I was now here to enjoy myself. That all changed at mile 6, when I had the biggest shock of my life. My ex-girlfriend had just overtaken me. Wake up call? You bet. This was now a pride thing. Miles 2 - 6 had been in the 6.00 - 6.15 range, but that stepped up a gear for a 5-26 and then a 5-33 mile to leave pride just about intact, and the ex just trailing behind. Phew. I could relax a bit??? Nope. James Smith was now on my shoulder, and I couldn't lose the *******. Thank god I'd done plenty of hill training, as normally I die on the hills, but this time New Zealand road felt fairly comfortable, and I even overtook someone (you have to understand, this is a rare occurrence for me on a hill!), and continued to push. With just the track to go, James was starting to kick, I responded, James kicked again, so with a 100m to go it was time to unleash the Dabbsy sprint waddle, and when I heard the dejected "Oh f***" from James, I knew I'd taken enough out of him to just about keep him at bay.

So much for a pleasant training run, but it was a great wake up call to get my ar5e down the track and start training again! And it was good to get pushed to the end by James. Hope you're doing Wilmslow James???

Some great results from the club - Nathan wasn't showing any lasting effects from his recent marathon performance, Martin was inside his target time and Tony got a PB - both Martin and Tony have promised PB's at 4 Villages and Wilmslow. And speaking of Martin...

Martin Webb: A view from the pack!

My week's taper before the race involved a work trip to Luebeck, Germany accompanied by German beer and bratwurst, oh yes and my one training run which resulted in me getting horribly lost on the outskirts of Luebeck! My pre-race discussion centred around how cold it was and whether I should still have been in bed rather than the elite conversation as to whether 6 minute mile pace was possible (Mr Dabbs)! The race started with a couple of sedate laps round the track trying not to trip over anybody but somehow resulted in the first 3 miles passing at 6:45 pace - not bad. Dabbys's hill training sessions were to prove invaluable later on when I 'sped' up New Zealand road but he had failed to mention the hills on the earlier part of the course and like a fool I hadn't really studied the course. Anyway due to my good start I had something in hand to cater for the hills and my finishing time was under my 1:12:49 target. If anyone hasn't had a look at the race performance predictor on the Great Run website then go to http://www.greatrun.org/runners_services/predictor.asp

You can also use the site to check what pace to run at to achieve a certain time. Unfortunately it tells me that I should be doing a PB at the next race - which means I need to do some more training! Well done to everyone who turned out, including the 'dark horse' Tony 'I've never done a road race before' Jolly who finished with a stunning time of just over 63 minutes. For those who remember him Paul Boshell (ex-member) finished in 1:15:??

Martin

And if you ever want an 'interesting' goodie bag, then Stockport certainly fits the bill. T-shirt, gingerbread man, key ring, pen, union flags, sweets, waterbombs and wormmeal larvae. Yes you read the last two right. I thought at first wormmeals were some new fad - a high protein snack discovered on bush tucker trials in "I'm a celebrity...", but no, they're little critters to help your garden waste decompose. But of course, just what you'd expect in a runners goodie bag.

It looks good for MTC though, if we'd all raced as MTC, then we'd have been 5th club overall. Not a bad start to the season. A reminder that we should all start to put down MTC as club name, for when we get affiliation (the next affiliation meeting is 15th Jan, so we should find out soon after that).

Results - Stockport 10 mile - 10th December 2006.

Position	Name	Cat	Time
25	Jonathan Dabbs		1:00:10
26	James Smith		1:00:12
47	Tony Jolly		1:03:33
178	Nathan Gladwell		1:12:19
181	Martin Webb	V40	1:12:27
233	David Moon	V50	1:14:37
302	David Waterhouse	V40	1:18:46
370	Hugh McKenna	V55	1:21:42

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