Time/Position: 1.20.44 (19th from 1745 [1st V50])
Given that this race starts less than a minute from the front door, it seems remarkable that I last did it the year it launched, in 2009. I was long overdue another appearance, thoroughly enjoyed the outing, and was pleased to win my age category at what is now a pretty big event with close to 2000 runners. My time was rather poor, but it will never be the quickest of courses, rightly emphasising scenery rather than speed. As such, I was quite pleased to finish in exactly the same time (to the second) that I recorded at Chester in September, a far flatter course. The start from the bridge was fairly quick, and the pace was maintained until hitting a brisk headwind on the gentle climb up Church Walks in Llandudno, around four miles in. This was quite sapping, and the course gets a lot harder as it moves up to the very familiar climb around Marine Drive. The wind was swirling around, so it was good to be in a small group of similarly paced runners round the headland. The final kick past the lighthouse is always the crux, even more so on this half, but the wind was a cross tailwind by then (or seemed to be) and not too damaging. From here, the rapid descent to West Shore allows you to get some of the time lost on the climb back, but (as I know from many appearances at the Nick Beer 10k) it never fully compensates. I had a gel after the gatehouse and then began to pull away from the group as we passed Maesdu. This allowed for a memorable finish, as I was miles away from the runner in front, so effectively finished in glorious solitude: with good crowds on the bridge back to the quayside finish.
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