The Berkeley 10k

On 27th April, when all eyes were on the London and Manchester marathons, my husband and I, along with lots of members of our running club, ran the Berkeley 10k. Berkeley 10k takes place in the small town of Berkeley, in the very south of Gloucestershire. The race is organised by Dursley Running Club.

Berkeley 10k was the second race of the season for me in the club’s road race series. It starts on the grounds of SGS Berkeley Green UTC (college) – the same place as Berkeley Green parkrun – in the shadow of the former nuclear power station. There was plenty of parking in the college car park. There was no bag drop, but we were close enough to the car park to use our cars. I arrived at the venue and immediately joined the toilet queue! There were only five portable toilets, which I would say wasn’t quite enough. When I went again later (we all have to go to the toilet twice before a race, right?), the queue was very long.

We picked up our numbers in the registration tent and had a chat with some of the club members. The friend who had paced me round Bourton 10k without realising and then pushed me to a home parkrun PB said he could pace me to 45 minutes. As I’d run 45:05 at Bourton, I thought I might manage sub-45 this time.

The race started at the rather random time of 10:45am. The good thing about that is we didn’t have to be up and out of the house at a ridiculously early time. The not so good thing was that it was sunny and already getting hot. There were about 220 runners and we lined up in the front quarter of the pack. And we were off!

The route headed out in a pretty straight line. We’d been told that we had to go right round the roundabout ‘not the way the cars go’, then keep left after that. I stayed right on the shoulders of my husband and our friend. I felt very comfortable and we reached the 1k marker in a flash. At that point, we turned onto the main part of the route – which is two 4k laps.

As I felt so comfortable, I started to pull away from my husband and my friend. In retropect, not such a good idea! I should have remembered that my friend runs at an incredibly constant pace and stuck with him. My husband briefly caught up with me, then he dropped back. Before the race, a couple of people had asked which of us was going to ‘win’. I’ve been very close to him on recent races – 11 seconds behind on the Linda Franks Race and nine seconds behind on Bourton 10k. My husband told everyone it would be me.

Before I knew it, I’d run the first mile. I was listening to my new favourite song – Hello, Heaven Hello by Yungblud. It is nine minutes long. It’s weird to still be listening to the same song after you’ve already run a mile! Then the route started to climb. I didn’t notice it that much on the first lap.

I wondered where the 2k marker was, but either I didn’t see it or I’d missed it. Because suddenly the 3k marker was there. We passed a pub and the outside of Berkeley Castle. Then we turned onto a footpath running in front of a row of houses. Then we were back on the road and heading gradually downhill towards the turn.

At about 4k, I overtook a woman from a local, rival club. She was probably younger than me, but could have been my age. I’d got my eyes firmly on the first in age category prize.

Until 4k, I felt amazing. After that, I didn’t feel quite as good. The sun was hot and I was desperate for a drink. We turned onto the second lap at 5k. There was water just after 5k in paper cups. I slurped it as best I could while still moving, chucked a bit on myself and kept running.

The hills on the second lap felt so much tougher than the first lap. I reached the end of one climb, turned a corner, it felt briefly flat, then the route started to climb again. Everything looked very familiar – not surprising considering I’d seen it all less than 20 minutes earlier! It was a relief to run back along the footpath and know I was heading for the gradual downhill.

The kilometre markers were welcome sights – 8k, then 9k. I’d been overtaken by a couple of men. I wondered where my husband was. I’d expected him to overtake me, but he hadn’t. Around 9k, I saw my daughter, who had come along to support us. I just about managed to shout her name. I wasn’t managing to speak to anyone else – just give a thumbs up to the marshals. Around this point, my friend caught me up. We ran alongside each other briefly and then he pulled slightly ahead of me.

At 9k, we were back on the straight line towards the college site. As we entered the site, I just wanted to know how far away the finish line was. I was hot, very tired and just wanted it over!

I crossed the line in 45:17 – just a second behind my friend. I was ninth female and, I found out at the prize giving, first in my age category. I was very happy to be the first female from our club across the finish line. I’ve been second female from the club a few times, but never first.

My husband finished just over a minute behind me. He’d been pushed/ pulled along by the lady I’d overtaken at 4k, who was in the age category below me.

There were no medals, but there was a bottle of beer or J20 at the end for all finishers. I’m teetotal and I don’t actually like J20, so I gave my bottle to my daughter. There was also a stall selling cakes and hot drinks in return for a donation for the local Scouts.

We enjoyed Berkeley 10k, but it was a tough race in the heat. I know I went off too fast. I was so focused on breaking the 45 minutes that I nearly broke myself. I was getting slower and slower – running the first mile in 7:03 and the sixth mile in 7:26, but I survived it!

Berkeley 10k might not happen again as the site has been sold, but I’m glad I got to experience it once.