Well for the people at the front anyway for us slowcoaches at the back it was a slow shuffle to the start area as we watch a few 1000 runners sprint (in my eyes anyway) past asda and off into the distance. A full 6 minutes later I ease into a light jog and I'm off through the start gates.
Once past asda the crowds disappear and then we are into the back streets of the harbour area and the race is well and truly underway. Now unlike any training runs I've done I've never really had to encounter much traffic human or other but in a race with over 4000 runners the space you have to run in and through is quite confined in the early stages so there is a fair bit of concentration required to ensure you don't bump and barge you way through the streets.
With the music on in my ears I feel great, running at a good pace and feeling strong, in fact I'm thinking in my head we've been running for ages now we must be coming up to around 2 km mark and there it is 100 yards ahead in big black writing 1km *sigh* but on I go for another few minutes and then It hits me "too hot" so I stop and walk for a second to get my breath back and then I'm off again this time it is the 2km mark.
My lowest part of the race came between 3-4 km firstly we came round the corner onto the beach front at 3 km and I remember thinking (a few sweary words) that I wasn't even 1/3 of the way round and already I was out of steam and struggling. A further km on and we get back into the crowds at the beach and the once before smile I had on my face is now a tight grimace and as I pass through the crowds I see my wife and kids again but this time I am burning up in the heat and feeling the pain in my legs but I carry on long enough to get out of sight then I stop again. Its about this point if you look left you can see the true athletes coming down the home straight to finish the race and here I am less than half way round and I'm burst. I think of my mum and the donations that people have made and I keep pushing hard. Other than the heat it was my right leg in particular that was bothering me, it had gone all numb and I had no feeling from the knee down, the reason for this was my laces were too tight (I've had this before in training) but the good news was the water station was up ahead.
The water station was like something you see on TV loads of outstretched arms offering bottles of cold water to cool everyone down, I grab 2 bottles and proceed to pour the contents of 1 onto my feet and at the same time undo the laces on my right foot. The other bottle is used as a shower to douse my body from head to toe and cool down my body temperature. I grab a thrid bottle to quench my thirst and carry it along with me for the next couple of km's. Now I'm pretty sure it was only water I was drinking but the effects were magical I felt like a new runner so much so that the second half of the race was far more enjoyable than the first
Fast forward now a couple more km and the race takes me through the houses at seaton where there are loads of people just out in the street cheering you on (even after the true athletes have long past finished) for me this was enough to keep me going I remember one guy shouting towards me "come on MS Scotland your doing great, keep it up" I smiled gave him a wave and kept on going. I am now at 8km race distance and another water stop and another chance to shower and cool down.
The final part of the race comes with the only hill of the race but also in the knowledge that you've less than 800m to go. This was the one and only time i felt competitive during the whole race why? Well a big giant bear had been passing me from time to time during the last km but kept stopping to high five the passers by, now I was knackered so I've no idea how the man or woman inside the costume must have felt but what I did know is if that dam bear crosses the line ahead of me I'll never live this down so with some gusto I push on up the hill and leave the bear in my trail.
This last part of the race will stay with me for as long as I'll remember. I turn the corner at the top of the hill and all I can see ahead is crowds of people on either side of the road cheering and clapping the noise is fantastic. I know now that on this stretch of the road the MS Scotland cheering squad will be positioned in their bright orange tops so I spotted them straight away and they in turn spotted me in my MS vest they gave me a massive cheer and took some photo's this spurred me on to the last hundred meters. I can hear and see in the distance my wife and kids with big smiles on their faces this is greeted with an equally big smile and wave followed by a few more strides and that's it "Yo Adrian I did it" 1 hour 14 minutes of hard slog got me through 10km, 10,000m, 6.2 miles or 25 Roger Black's and it was all worth it. The pain my body has lifted and I feel a huge sense of pride and achievement. I collect my medal as if it were an Olympic Gold give it a kiss and proceed to wear it for the remainder of the day. A few minutes later I am joined by my wife and kids with big hugs all round I'm also joined by some of my friends that were running and we exchange stories of our effors, the running theme of which is that we would do it again in a heartbeat.
So there it is my day in the sun that ended up in me getting a medal for running and raising over £1,200 for Multiple Sclerosis Scotland
There are so many people that I want to thank I'm going to write a separate blog for you all
For anyone else still looking to donate please go to
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