It’s a proper out and back. Parkrun to the turnaround then a Parkrun back home. Simple as that.

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What can I say, it was a rollercoaster of emotions in the lead up to the day by myself and Sarah as this was only our second ever 10K race after doing Morley 10K in October 2023.

 

We set off nice and early to make sure that we had a parking spot, the car parks were clearly labelled but soon filled up.

 

 

As we both sat in the car it wasn’t long before Liz and John arrived and so we hitched

a seat in their car to keep warm.

 

A quick trip to the toilet before the race began where me, Sarah and Liz posed for a

photo by Mick Hall Photography.

 

It wasn’t long before the Maroon Monsoon of Morley Running Club came together

where we all gathered for a group photo.

 

What can I say other than WOW it was brilliant to see so many of us and felt amazing to be a part of such a fantastic running group and know that you’re not there alone!

 

We all wished each other good luck and moved to the start line; this was by far the biggest race we had been in. We followed the advice of walk to the start line to conserve our energy.

 

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Sarah had a quick photo with Alison and then the countdown began.

 

The initial plan was for me and Sarah to stick together as we started running together last year and it has always just been about having fun instead of busting out for the PB chasing. (Sometimes this doesn’t always work out)

 

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The sea of people moved quickly to the start line and before we knew it, it was time to start the watch and the race had begun.

 

We both did the simple mistake of setting off too fast with excitement under the arches, there was a great sense of excitement as we ran past the crowds of supporters up to Lidl.

 

We settled into a great speed following the 60-minute pacers and managed to stick with them until the 2km mark where we saw them running further into the distance and it wasn’t long before we looked at each other and said forget the PB let’s just complete the race.

 

Along the run out we passed a set of steel drummers and had lots of amazing encouragement from members of MRC, Marshalls and we also had a lot of encouragement from the supporters from DDRC cheering “come on Morley”.

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It was about 25 minutes in, and we had just gone past Tesco’s at Batley heading towards the park when we saw our first glimpse of the faster runners heading back. We joined in with cheering them on along with the other runners around us.

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At this point it helped give me a focus to the race as instead of concentrating on what I was doing I found myself looking out for fellow MRC members and shouting over when seeing someone! Before I knew it, we were at the halfway point, and this is where me and Sarah got a little spring to our steps and managed to pick up on our speed.

 

The front runners were given bottles of water but by the time we got there it had gone to cups; I was trying to remember the trick of sticking my finger in the cup and squeezing to drink trying desperately not to choke on it or spill it down myself.

 

The weather then decided to turn at this point, and it started spitting, by 8km the end was nearing, and the crowd build up was building again. As we got back to the viaduct the cheers really helped to bring out a final sprint to the finish line cheered on by MRC members who had already finished (thank you to all of you) and we instantly got a text message with our times, and both were happy to find out we got our new 10k PB’s!

 

Once crossed the line we were given a purple buff instead of a medal and the famous Dewsbury 10K t-shirt.

 

Would highly recommend, anyone that’s unsure to just give it a go!