Chase the train

Chase the train Grosmont to Goathland return – 17^th June 2017

8.4 miles with 886ft of height gain, including a couple of hills I had to walk

Official chip time was 1.03.42 (eight people managed under 1 hour)

19^th place out of 465 finishers (official results here)

A fantastic event, with the family going on the train. It was good to see them for high fives at Goathland! And the atmostphere afterwards in Grosmont was brilliant.

The only problem was the absolutely punishing heat. Everyone was sweating before we even set off. That combined with punishing hills and a race mindset was a bit of a recipe for disaster. I was pushed to the absolute limit: at times it felt like I was falling asleep/zoning out. Possibly even losing consciousness??! There were two water stops, where I soaked myself over the head with a full bottle of water. But it didn’t help much!

The suffering was worth it – I was absolutely thrilled with coming in 19^th place. About one mile in some kids were shouting out our places as we passed, and I was 31^st at that time. So I mostly spent the race passing people. The people who finished immediately before me/after me are people with some amazing results in other races, including sub-3 marathons. So that’s quite exciting for my prospects in the York marathon in October. On the other hand, some of these people were (probably) taking it easy and holding back because of the heat. Whereas I was foolishly going for broke!

Really nice to share the event with Ben. He also beat the train, coming in 118^th with a time of 1.16.51.