Great Manchester Run 2006 Special

Hello,

Well I can't believe how quickly the jog blog has come full circle. Its hard to believe that it is now a year since the last time I ran this event. Time does seem to fly!

For those short on time my results for the race are below:

Forename(s) Surname Race Number Time Overall Position
Andrew Shirres 1347 41:01 446 out of 19771 who finished

This year the overall position also includes the Elite athletes (Male & Female), as well as Elite Athletes with a Disability. Needless to say I'm incredibly pleased with this time and position and whilst I was expecting to beat last years time of 45:20, I was not expecting to beat it by so much as this was an improvement of 9.5%!

Anyway, back to the start for those who have a bit more time to read....

The signs looked good. There were four waves in this years race, so that should space people out more and avoid traffic jams. I was in the first wave which should put me ahead of some of the traffic also. To top it off, Manchester's weather was behaving as it usually does with a light drizzle which would hopefully keep me cool on the way round to. The build up was the usual exciting affair with a good banter present among the fellow runners. Mark, Big Pete and Marple Phil were the runners I knew starting with me. I'd worked out the interval times I needed at each kilometer for 43 and 42 minutes finish times. I thought I'd aim for the 42 mins on the basis that if I failed I'd still have a chance of getting under 43.

The gun went, as we finally came to the start line, the adrenaline kicked in and the excitement of the event lifted me. For the first 100 metres it was more of a speed walk than a run, but it quickly cleared and I started threading my way through the crowd. I remember getting to the 1km marker around 3:40... whilst this was great on one hand, as it was quicker then what it should have been of 4:12, it did mean there was a risk of me burning out. I wasn't to concerned though as I thought I always slow down in the second half so building up a bit of slack would help.

As the race progressed, we headed onto the A56. The traffic was heavier than I had expected given the four wave system, but it did seem a little less than last year. Around the three kilometer mark I had a bit of an accident whilst overtaking fellow runners. I saw a stretch of clear road on the grass verge on the left of the A56, heading towards I had to weave around a few runners, and just as I hopped onto the verge it was at that point I saw an advertising board facing sideways with the pointy end looking right at me!!!! I managed to react just in time to avoid a full on collision, which at the speed I was running at would have probably taken me out of the race. I did end up smacking the side of the boards though but came away thinking that only my pride was bruised by it as I powered on.

Just as I got to around Man United's Old Trafford, I looked down at my rights hand which was starting to tingle. To my horror, I noticed that it was actually taking the colour of the Man U home strip... with a blood red tinge all over it. A quick check and I noticed there was a small chunk of flesh missing from my thumb, sucking it didn't help to much (except later I found out I had then smeared bits blood onto my face!). Anyway, thankfully it started to heal a little and stop bleeding shortly after this, which was reassuring as I couldn't afford to lose any as I needed every drop to carry oxygen to my legs to keep them going!

Around the Old Trafford/ Salford Quays area I didn't spot any kilometre markers so I lost track of how I was progressing. I could see Marple Phil ahead so I knew I must be doing well as he had joined a Harrier club down South and got some very good times. I'd totally lost track of Mark and Big Pete though. The water station was a great relief to see as I was able to wash my right hand of all the dried on blood that was caked on it, and I took a couple of mouthfuls for good measure.

As I got back onto the A56 for the return stretch I was in a fair bit of pain. My breathing was heavy, my left hip was playing up again and my right thigh felt sore. It reminded me a little of one of the Herbie movies where Herbie (the car) was literally falling to pieces on the last lap of a race and the passengers had the welding iron out trying to mend the car on the go!

Somewhere between the 7 and 8 km mark John and then Charlotte ran past me on the opposite side of the A56 heading toward Old Trafford (about the point where I'd so skillfully run into an advertising board). They'd started in the second wave which is why I was this far ahead of them. My breathing was becoming more laboured and I was also starting to scare fellow runners with my unintentional deep groaning... I heard angry shouts of "So your the g#t who keeps ringing me late at night!" from behind but luckily my legs were in better shape than his :)

As I passed the 8km mark I thought I'd up the tempo. I didn't have anything left in the reserves though so I'm not sure how much faster I actually went. As the 800 metres to go sign passed I threw caution to the wind and really started upping the tempo. About 100 metres to go I kind of ran out of energy but there was some other chap with me who managed to keep me going till I crossed the line.

I was exhausted after crossing and staggered to the goody back point and picked mine up. Bumped into Mark who'd finished with an incredible time of 41:07. There was no sign of Big Pete, though I'd no idea if that was because he'd finished ahead or behind. Mark helped me hunt down the St John Ambulance van to get the cut cleaned with some antiseptic and a plaster put on it. After sitting down for a while and getting cleaned up, I found out why my right thigh had been hurting as this had a graze right across it. This, along with a bump that has developed on my left arm now that I'm back home has reminded me that unlike Arnie Schwarzenegger, I can't punch through metal or walls! Anyway, after sitting in the ambulance getting cleaned up (it wasn't that bad) I felt much better and went outside and into heavy rain and bumped into Mark, Dawn and Big Pete (who'd smashed his time from last year and managed 42:30). Not wanting to stand in the rain we went into a nearby pub and Dawn being the only one with any money on them, shouted us all to a drink... thanks Dawn.

Anyway, the event seems to have got bigger this year, so who knows how big it will be next year. The rest of the Rangers and supporters also finished with great times to, and when we all met up it turned out that Charlotte's brother at the young age (compared to old farts like me!) of 17 managed a time of 52:39 (a very promising future for running giving his late entry and so less then ideal build up). Mini also managed a good time of 56:51, but more importantly had been the running partner for a new runner this year and helped Charlotte out with her training which contributed to her getting a great time of 1:10:02, so well done to both of them, the very definition of teamwork! Russ has my vote for Run of the Day with an incredible time of 59:38, which when you consider that in January, if he'd run 2 km he would have been close to needing life support, is an out of this world achievement. John managed 1:09:35 and so achieved his goal of beating last years time. This is despite spraining his foot during the event, and so he showed incredible guts to carry on going. The surprise entrant, Ann-Marie, was also running for her first time and started her training from scratch also. She did herself proud also and managed 1:24:55, and along with Russ, they both raised over £500 each for charity! Last but by no means least was Marple Phil, who we later found out had an incredible time of 40:01 and rightfully deserved the crown of fastest runner out of our group... those Harrier training sessions really paying dividends!

Everyone enjoyed themselves, and we topped off the event with an all you can eat Chinese which was lovely. I'm hoping to be back at next years event, though I think I'd struggle to knock much off this time unless I started taking it really seriously and joined a running club or something!

Over and out

Andy