Sunshine on a Rainy Day (The Fradley 10K)

It was a dark and stormy morning….

Well actually, not dark and not stormy, but it was raining.

Anyway, it was not looking like a good start to the day.

Luckily the BBC were wrong about the strength of the rain, or perhaps the fact that our forecast is actually taken from about 15 miles away accounted for this because the rain was quite light.

It had been raining on a couple of our training runs but we had avoided rain for an actual race event. My optimistic side was telling me it would clear up but my eyes were still seeing rain drops falling from the heavens.

Getting There

Fradley is about 10 miles from here so no need to rush things. The race was starting at 10:30 so a quick stop to pick up Julie (and son) and then we were all parked up by about 10am.

The car parking facilities at Fradley really are well organised. They use a field close to the start and there are plenty of event staff to guide you round. Due to rain the entrance to the field was a bit muddy causing cars to slip and slide but for the most part it worked well despite the wet conditions.

Our father had arrived around the same time and parked close by so we were all set.

Support Team

We’re pretty lucky that for all the runs we’ve done we have had family there to support us. They can not only cheer us along the way but they can also carry clothes and bags etc for us and take action photos. For this run we had our father, my wife and Julie’s son as our Support Team.

The start of the run is pretty informal therefore we able to hand over coats, hats and gloves at the last minute.

The Course

Fradley is one of those runs that does 2 laps of the same route. These types of run can be psychologically hard as you see all the bits you’re going to have to do again! Luckily for us the Fradley route is relatively flat, but still, seeing the 6km sign around the same time as the 1km sign does dampen the spirits a little.

Timing Chips

Nearly all runs these days have timing “chips” (little RFID tags). These little things signal you crossing the start and finish lines and provide a more accurate time (the time does not include the slow shuffle to the start line).

In the past these have been little tags that you attach to your ankle or through your shoe laces, but for this run they were attached to the back of the race number and they didn’t want them back.

Hopefully this new system will be employed elsewhere because it makes the whole process much simpler to work with.

Let the Run Begin

The rain had mercifully stopped.

We had planted ourselves towards the back of the group of runners. There is nothing more demoralising than having loads of people overtaking you at the start of the race.

This is us looking fed up because the start of the race has been delayed for some reason. Luckily there is a woman in front of me saving everyone from a view of my bare legs (not a sight for the weak of heart).



The run started about 15 minutes late, no idea why, but the hooter sounded at about 10:45 and we were off!
We started the slow shuffle over the start line and as the field cleared we started running.

I had intended to keep Julie company through the race. Both of us had not really done nearly enough training so I was aiming to take it easy, but as always seems to happen on these races I ended up leaving Julie behind. I am sure she did not mind.

The rain held off, the clouds cleared to allow the sun to shine and with no wind to speak of they really were ideal running conditions.

Being a two lap run the inevitable being lapped by the elite runners happened. The lead car with the clock on the roof beeped past us with the eventual winner of the run following not far behind.

But, there were plenty of runners running at my pace so I had plenty of company and pacemakers so despite the lack of training the run went remarkably well.

The Finish

You can see me in this picture in the orange top coming down the final straight. The gentleman in foreground is guiding us through to the finish which is a left turn off the road. My wife and Julie’s son where there just to his right to cheer me through. My father had been further back near that roundabout taking some photos.



So, over the finish line (and time sensor) and join the queue to pick up the goody bag. This time containing just a small carton of fruit (courtesy of the sponsors Florette) and the medal. A useful bag, nice fruit and it’s always good to get a medal!

So here we are at finish with our medals (and wild hair)!!!

Final Thoughts

I did this run last year and surprisingly despite the poor training it felt better, although my time was slightly better last year.

I do find two lap runs to be more challenging but the Fradley 10K is a nice run to ease us into the new year of running.

Will I be running this next year? Of course I will!

Will I be doing more training? I really hope so!

Finally a huge thank you to our Support Team and also to the organiser of the run who have once again done a great job.