I ran my first Wycombe 10K on 19 July, only the 2nd year of its inclusion with
the main event, the half marathon. The shorter event was more attractive as I
had planned to run the MK (summer) half marathon for a change this time and was
scheduled for 26 July.

Set off at just before 6am (for the 9.30am start) as the combined public
transport / cycle journey would take approaching 3 hours. Fortunately for the
cycle leg from Leighton Buzzard to Aylesbury I had plenty of time so decided to
take a part detour along parallel country lane to avoid the poor surface on the
A418. The journey took just over the hour into a moderate headwind. Arrived at
the venue as planned, the weather despite the onset of drizzle was in our
favour.

Met Mary Davis, Simon Cope and possibly Scott Baillie at the start and as I was
warming up (did I need to after the ride?) coming in the opposite direction were
former member Sharon Davidson & her mother who were power-walking from home in
High Wycombe. No sign of Ade Gibbon who has run the event for at least the
previous 10 years. We knew in advance that there would be no social back at
Ade's nearby residence where there was the annual feast. Ade & Jill had earned a
well deserved rest from the organising and publicity.

Mentally I was approaching it as a 10K so started at a faster pace across the
flat Rye. Unfortunately as I was confronted with the steep 250 feet climb onto
the Chilterns my legs felt fairly weak / tired and slowed quite markedly in
relation to the competitors around me, most probably running the half marathon.
The cycle journey and possibly lack of hill training (running related) were the
reasons for apparently dropping back. The second half of the climb was a lot
better in terms of not losing many more places.

Despite the wake-up call, soon after reaching the top I seemed to recover quite
quickly and return to my 10K pace. I steadily overtook many runners, not knowing
if they were 10K or half marathon runners. As the 10K runners turned sharply
left at about 5K, we were confronted with another sharp and tiring climb over
the M40 thereafter descended very rapidly. It was too much for my legs, still
recovering from the climbs, etc. I could not relax as we descended hence lost
some distance to the few competitors ahead. Strangely it was a relief to reach
level ground again. Still feeling a little uncomfortable, I began to close on
the runners ahead and overtake. Reaching the Rye at the far western end where we
climbed the 250 feet, I had envisaged the half marathon route to the finish but
the 10K course still had some additional distance to complete with a large loop
before rejoining the half marathon course to the finish. I still felt like I had
run a half marathon as I slowly walked back to the changing area. My time of
just over 43 minutes was a little disappointing but not surprised given how I
struggled on the hills.

Then I had the relaxation of seeing the half marathon runners finish, take
photos of our runners and give them a cheer. Leading the VC&AC home was Simon
Cope closely followed by Mary Davis and Scott Baillie in the space of a few
minutes. One male runner had obviously not done anywhere near enough training.
At first I thought he was putting on some act of a drunken runner, leaning over
and almost collapsing as he veered from side to side, other runners having to
take avoiding action. Someone decided to give him a helping hand but he refused
with 100 metres or so to go. I assume he got there without any further
embarrassment.

One of the race officials I know well came up to me at the prize presentation
and to my surprise said that there are a lot of your members here today, maybe
helped by the close finish between them and an additional vegan runner not far
behind who started late. That dopes not include the unattached Sharon Davidson
who obviously was not wearing a club vest but finished just after Simon.

The rain came down heavily for a time as the runners were finishing the half
marathon so, no problems with the heat that we normally anticipate. The heavy
showers continued on the return cycle journey but luckily I had the wet weather
gear handy.

Regards
Peter