At the start we (Fayaz, Kirz, Michelle & I) queued up at the back of the greens and were looking out for Luigi who we never found. I was keeping a look out for Kan who came along to cheer us on unfortunately I missed her but she caught Fayaz and I on camera in this action shot HERE.

Kirz and Michelle were a little ahead of us while we were waiting to cross the start line but ended up behind us when Kirz went to high five Denis Law who was starting the race along with Freddie Flintoff and Sir Alex Ferguson. So that means I had to finish in front of Kirz to beat his time… the challenge was on!!!

Straight from the start I knew I wasn’t going to match Fayaz for pace as he just flew away from us 3, plus Michelle’s pace was nice and comfortable at the start. The first 3K’s were easy; I wasn’t getting too hot and felt comfortable. I had broke away from Kirz and Michelle, well I thought I had until Kirz came past me just past the 3K mark, I managed to regain my lead on them again just before Old Trafford. I had done the same around the 2.5 K mark… but in the process nearly ran into the back of a slower runner. 10K running for fun is quite a challenge dodging all the other slower runners.

When I pasted the 5K mark I was ok, a bit tired but I knew I still had it in me to finish in less than 1 hour. This is where I started to loose Michelle and Kirz they opened up a gap on me of about 10 meters I tried to keep up but I was starting to struggle a little… I needed water quick to cool me down and have a drink. As we rounded the corner I got slowed down a bit with the crowd bunching and Kirz and Michelle opened the gap that little bit more. I finally lost sight of them when I got to the water point I didn’t mind because at least I had water now.

Between 5 and 7K I didn’t see any marker boards for how far we had ran I was finding this stage of the race tough, my left knee was starting to hurt and I could feel a blister starting to form on my left foot near the bottom of my big toe. This was the hardest part of the race for me as it seemed that everyone was overtaking me…well maybe not seemed, I think they probably were ?.

At this time I knew I was nearly home so I dug deep and plodded on, I could see in the distance the 8K marker so I took the last sip of water put the rest over my head, cleared my nose and put in the last effort to catch Kirz and Michelle. At this moment it seemed that I was the one over taking people, choosing my path through the runners. I saw the 9K marker and soon passed it seeing the 800m, I had slowed the pace a little and picked it up again I couldn’t see Kirz or Michelle but could see a man who was near me at the start, he was carrying a big army bag on his back so I thought to myself, I can’t be beaten by a man carrying a Backpack This was my goal. As I came past the 200 meter mark I was looking out for Kan readying myself to look good for the camera but I was concentrating too much on getting to the end, I managed to pass the guy with the backpack with about 10 meters to go which I was chuffed with… At last I was finished.

I was half expecting Kirz to be at the finish line but I met Michelle first and she asked me if I had seen Kirz I said no. I went and got my free goodie bag and then Kirz showed up, it turned out that he had got a stitch when he drank too much water and had to stop for a rest… hehehe?.

It was a great feeling doing a run like that I would recommend it to anyone. My final time was 57 minutes and 4 seconds which I am happy with as my previous time for 10K was 1 hour 2 minutes or there about. At the moment I am aching, my left knee still hurts when I bend it, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed the day and was glad to be in the race.