Heartbreak Tailwind 10 race recap

I ran my last race of the year today: the Heartbreak Tailwind 10 by Race New Forest. It’s a new race this year, and about the only race I’ve seen in December that doesn’t have a festive theme (I love Santa dashes and Christmas pudding runs, but I’ve run one of them competitively!)

How’s my training been?

I’ve been so busy recently that, yet again, my training has taken a nose-dive… since Gosport Half, I’ve done a parkrun and gone out for a 12k run with a friend, but that’s the sum total of my training.

Stuart and I agreed that we would run together as we’ve not seen much of each other recently. I love running with Stu, but it’s also frustrating as he’s so much fitter and faster than me.

What’s the Tailwind 10 route like?

Tailwind 10 is mostly on the same route as the Heartbreak Half – that’s on a T-shaped route, starting at Sandy Balls Holiday Park. The difference from the half is that we only had to run west on the Ridgeway, rather than going east first and then west.

The biggest challenge of this race is that it starts at the bottom of a steep hill, which means that there is no time to warm up and get into your stride at the start of the race. Frustratingly, the race doesn’t end at the bottom of the downhill. It’s definitely an undulating course and there’s also a water feature to cool off warm feet 🙂

Where does the name come from?

The weather has been unseasonably warm (about 12°C/54°F), so I was surprised to see a number of runners wearing tights, long-sleeved tops and gloves. I was very grateful to get to the first drinks station where water and Tailwind drinks were available. I know the mantra ‘nothing new on race day’, but I didn’t expect to get a PB and have a cast iron stomach, so after drinking half a cup of water, I also tried the Tailwind. It seemed pleasant enough, but I have no idea what the flavour was meant to be!

As we headed down towards the turnaround point, Stu and I saw various runners we knew, including a number of people from Lordshill Road Runners. I was particularly watching out for Jacqui, my fellow Lane 1 swimmer from Southampton Tri Club as well as Flo and Becky from SUTRI and Becky’s mum, Ruth (who’s a fellow LRR).

Photos from the race

At the turnaround point, we saw our friend Jonathan marshalling. At this point, Stu sped up (I think he wanted to look good in the photos!) Thanks to Jonathan for the pics:

How did I do?

I did my best to maintain an even pace, but think that I slowed in the second half as I was feeling really hot and my breathing wasn’t great… I’m sure I’ve run the half at a faster pace. Stu and I crossed the line together in 01:42:57. It’s a long way off my 10 mile PB, but it was an enjoyable event. Overall, I placed 116/150, was 16/21 in the female vet category and 41/62 women.

After the race, we were given medals and a welcome cup of soup with a bread roll. Runners were welcome to use the shower at the holiday village, but we just wanted to head home.

This was an enjoyable race with a fun and friendly atmosphere. There was great camaraderie amongst the runners, with lots of shouts of encouragement and conversations with runners who were going at our pace. I will definitely consider adding this to my event list for 2016.

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