So for those who follow our Insights you’ll have read how I had the Hale 10k sprung on me in the office recently, but as this was for the THE TOY APPEAL I was quite happy to strap on my running shoes again. However, thanks to a Snowboarding trip in between the short time before the race my training was pretty non-existent unless you count quaffing lots of Bavarian beer and falling down a mountain.

It was quite exciting knowing that som3 were sponsoring the race and great to see our logo on their website, the runners pack and on all the runners’ chests. Our MD, Steve Morrisey said I needed to win the race as we’re sponsoring it but at 47 and a good few stone heavier than all the “Elite Runners” I decided it was going to be a moral victory for both myself and som3!

The weather was ideal on the day, mild, overcast and not too windy. It was a very Cheshire affair parking in the grounds of Ashley Hall and running around the posh village of Hale before venturing out onto the back lanes of Cheshire. The start was on a very nice residential street with a big blow-up archway, DJ and fitness instructors warming up the runners, but then after what seemed like no time at all we were off! There were some very finely tuned athletes that went whizzing past me despite me having what I thought was a decent pace. There was one guy dressed in a full Batman suit laden with handcuffs and all the other gadgets on his utility belt – I had to beat him!

One good thing about 10k races is that the kilometre boards come quicker than milestones, so once we left the crowds behind and ran into the countryside all the runners settled into a steady pace apart from the odd try-hard that came pounding past grunting like in a Rocky film promo. I uprated a bit at 7k and again at 8k, big mistake as I was shattered because of this at 9k, but with the end looming I had to dig in as it went up hill and over rough ground back into Ashley Hall where there was another DJ and blow-up archway at the finish with a welcome free banana and a glass of water on offer.

I finished in 45:06 which I’m happy enough with, but my two takeaways from the day are that I ran a som3 sponsored race for a good cause and… I beat Batman!!

Neil