Jerusalem, Elvis and Ironing Boards

Manchester 10k this morning

It was the first race I have done all year and nearly cancelled as I had been so rough last week but we went down anyway and gave it a shot.

The atmosphere was awesome, the Manchester 10k is one of the top 10ks in the world.

I have never run the London Marathon ( yet ) but reckon the atmosphere can't be that much different from today. In amongst celeb spotting ( they were all in their own separate holding area , it was like soap stars in a cage ) and rain dodging, we got to see the world's Number OneHaile Gebrsellassie, he got a brilliant reception and he went on to win the race ( as he hasn't lost a 10k challenge in 17 years, this was more inevitable than a chocoholic downing a box of Thornton's in 43 seconds). To get us all going and to really raise the hairs on the back of our necks, Russell Watson was there singing live and when he sang Jerusalem the whole crowd joined in. It was colourful, balloons everywhere and smiles everywhere too despite the weather.

In fairness, it is best to run when it's not hot but the waiting round in the cold and damp was nippy, but you just couldn't help but smile as 38000 people were all together for one reason.

The race itself was not my best. I did much better than anticipated but nowhere near my personal best times. A clue to how it went was the fact that I was overtaken by a man dressed as Elvis with an ironing board on his back!

Anyway, I did it instead of pulling out so all's well that ends well. My race time is now a springboard to get my fitness of old back. good job really as I have an UBER race in 11 weeks.


Here's my medal and my running bib taken just now, sadly I didn't have a camera with me at the event otherwise there would have been some amazing shots of the male elite athlete's legs the wonderful architectural structures in the great city.

Happy Fitness Sunday to you all.
xx