Longleat 10k - first race of the year

This morning I competed in my first race of 2006 - a 10k at Longleat, nr Westbury, Wiltshire.

I had been looking forward to the event for some time, having not run in a race since last December, the Bromham 10k pudding run. That was not a good experience - I had been out the night before, for Maxine's birthday party, and ended up getting completely slaughtered. Hence I ran the race the next day with the grand-daddy of all hangovers, which was not pleasant - I tell you, you won't catch me in a nightclub the night before a race ever again, unless Jessica Alba is giving free lap dances somewhere in Swindon..

So anyway, my running seemed to be coming on in leaps and bounds since then and I was hoping to get a PB and go less than 55 minutes for the first time. I didn't have the greatest of rest days on Saturday - I had to move a load of stuff upstairs from the breakfast room ready for the decorators to arrive Monday to fix the damage caused by a bust pipe before Christmas.

Still, I did get to bed early (I tried watching Catwoman on sky movies to see if it was as bad as the critics had made out and the answer was a resounding "yes"). So I woke up early and refreshed and met my brother-in-law, Rich, at his house in Melksham and travelled the rest of the journey in his car.

There were a lot of people at Longleat (about 1500 runners at a rough guess) and we soon lined up at the start line and were off.

It was a tough race - very hilly, and the number of competitors made me realise early on that a personal best was out of the question. I'm not making excuses - I gave it my all and by the time I finished was sweating profusely - but having to zigzag past people to overtake them did not help.

One thing I love about these races is the cross-section of people you get. At Bromham I saw I guy who must have been in his eightieth decade cross the finishing line. Today I saw a deaf and blind man running round with his trainer. For the most part, he was ahead of me (not that I'm that fast my any means, but I'm not that bad either) - I only managed to overtake him at the 9km marker.

Things like this make me feel very humble. I just think, when I see people achieving things like running a 10k race despite such massive obstacles, it makes me realise what a total fuck-up I am. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on myself but I mean, come on, for someone with my abilities, what have I really achieved in my 37 years on this planet? Not a lot.

And it makes you thankful. I spent some time with my sister Fiona (Rich's wife) and her family and visited my Dad as well. As I was driving back to Swindon the sun shone and I started thinking about the days in the summer I can enjoy, at cricket matches at Lords, soaking up the sights, sounds and atmosphere. Can the man I referred to earlier say the same? No. As Dad said, we don't know we're born at times.

Oh well. A good day all in all and I shall enjoy a few more beers and probably a pizza before I'm done. A good start to the year - I have a few races to look forward to over the next couple of months, including the Bath and Reading half marathons.

After that it's marathon training here I come - I've got my place for the New Forest marathon in September. Quite how I'll cope running four times the distance I ran today I've no idea but we will see..

Oh and there won't be too many updates on here for a while as I have finally started on my first novel. I'm in the early planning stages but at least it's a start. But let's face it, if a deaf and blind man can run 10k, running a marathon and writing a book should be a piece of cake for me.

No excuses. Maybe I should make that my motto for 2006.