The time I ran the Hull Almost 10km

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will already be bored of this and I can only apologise to you - you have permission to move on to your next unread blog post.

This weekend I was in Hull to run the Hull 10km, an event run by For All Events who organise a number of 10km runs/swim-a-thons/walks in memory of Jane Tomlinson.

I have been working hard, following Hal's training plan that I spoke about back on BEDM Day 5 and when in Preston the other weekend I went out for an 8.5km run in which I just decided to kind of...well....keep going. And unbelievably to me, I managed to run 10km, which is only the 2nd ever time I've run that distance.

I was overjoyed because I am a bit of a purist and I'm afraid I couldn't say I'd run a 10km if I had actually run some of it and walked some of it. I'm sorry, I just can't. That's cheating as far as I'm concerned.

But I was going to be good. I was pumped up and feeling good. I had friends willing to get out of bed at ridiculous o'clock on a Sunday morning to come and cheer me on. I had a lovely knee support in place. I was feeling nervous, but good.

As I queued up with all the other people I was jiggling about like a maniac and pondering whether or not I really should have had a wee before I set off. So preoccupied was I that I didn't quite hear the first announcement that there was a potential problem on the course.

One of the reasons I really wanted to run this course was not just that it was in my hometown but because it went past some lovely landmarks, including running along the Humber, past The Deep and past the Tidal Barrier and around the Marina.

Unfortunately all this water means that there are bridges and as some kind of insane stroke of bad luck would have it, one of the bridges that we were supposed to cross over was stuck upright. We were told there would be a slight delay to the 9am start and they would let us know more in due course.

The news wasn't good.

The bridge remained stuck upright and the race organisers really had no choice but to shorten the course. We would have to miss the bit over the bridge out and just run a short course.

I was gutted. I've said it a couple of times but I don't think it's possible to express how I was feeling. I was absolutely gutted. All the excitement and all the preparation and all the gearing up for running 10km, gone. Gone in the blink of a broken suspension.

There have been the usual ridiculous people saying the usual ridiculous thing, blaming poor organisation - but that is total nonsense. This was just a case of incredible bad luck. Yes, maybe they should have had a Plan B in place but you can't re-route a race in 10 minutes whether you've planned it or not. (To be fair, they have since said that they will plan an alternative route in the future.)

So I ran the new course. Everyone keeps saying it was 9km and I keep getting increasingly rageful because it was most certainly not 9km. We were diverted around the 5.5km mark and my Endomondo app had me having run 8.7km.

And no. I didn't even run a PB. I don't even have any excuses for that one, I just didn't.

It was the biggest anti-climax ever. I picked up my medal and t-shirt but I don't want to wear them. They say I ran the Hull 10km and I didn't. That is a medal made of lies my friends.

I felt guilty for having dragged my friends and Mum out of their comfy beds and I just felt gutted.

Let's say it again.

GUTTED.

It's hard to explain and there'll be people going "Yeah but you ran 8.5km!" or "Yeah but it was a great experience" and I know they're right and I know I did a big run but when you have psyched yourself up for something and are really looking forward to it, to have it taken away from you is not cool. You do not feel good about having run Almost 10km.

I was in a complete funk yesterday and very sulky and whingey and to anyone who follows me on Twitter I can only apologise. I wanted to punch me in the face too. But I cannot put into words how disappointed I was. I don't get to achieve much in life and I don't have a great deal going for me at the moment - managing to run 10km would just have been a nice thing to have said that I could do.

Onwards and upwards though. At least I've had a good (albeit fricking expensive) training run for the Zoo Stampede in three weeks time and there is no water and therefore no bridges that can get stuck.

And if anyone makes a joke about escaped animals here I will have to hurt you.

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I would just like to say that the Run For All team did an excellent job in an incredibly difficult situation. They dealt with the problem quickly and efficiently and in literally the only way in which they could have done. By the time I was home and showered there was an e-mail in my inbox apologising and offering entry into next year's race for £10 - which is an enormous discount and a generous offer considering the problem was due to circumstances out of their control. 

But I'm still gutted.

In case I hadn't got that across.