Brean Down Santa Scramble 10k
Last Sunday was the second time I’ve done the Brean Down Santa Scramble 10k having done it last year and the 5th time I’ve done the Brean Down 10k in the last 18 months and it just doesn’t get any easier.
Lovely Christmas themed medal
Having done the Brent Knoll race the week before I didn’t have any expectations or a goal time going into this race. My previous three finishes at the different variations of this race have been 5th, 6th and 5th so if I matched either of those finishes I would have been delighted but I knew it wasn’t going to happen.
The only difference between the Santa Scramble and the normal race is you get to wear a ridiculous Santa suit! Its pretty funny seeing loads of people all dressed up as Santa but the costume isn’t great for running in as you might expect.
There were quite a few people there I knew doing it. There were several members of my running club, my friend Sonia running it with her dog Hendrix and a couple of mates, Si and Sonny who’s girlfriend Lucinda ran the 5k.
Friends at the finish
We were all in Santa costumes although after some dynamic stretching at the end of my warm up I realised I’d torn a massive hole in the crotch of my Santa trousers so rather than have them fall apart any further while running I ripped them off and binned them. Luckily I had shorts on underneath!
Looking quite strong on the first lap
Anyway, the start of this race sucks. There’s a horrible incline about 200m from the start line which gets you blowing right from the off. If that wasn’t enough, its then up and down with another big incline before the fun decline down to the fort. Similar to the Brent Knoll race, this descent is a bit hairy if you’re not confident of putting your feet in the right place. Getting to do this twice, as its a 2 lap route, is one of the highlights of this race for me.
I knew I would struggle after finding the Brent Knoll race so tough but I didn’t think I’d have to stop and walk some of the second lap. For me its about knowing your limits and knowing when you can push beyond them. Could I have made it all the way round without walking? Probably, but as I’m out of form at the moment and there was nothing on the line, it just wasn’t worth pushing harder than I needed to. It also meant I had enough left in the tank to finish strong which is always a good thing in my opinion.
Not looking quite so strong towards the end of the second lap!
Needless to say I was still completely done at the end and left wondering why I keep coming back to this race when its so damn tough!
It was great to see all the other people I knew cross the finish line apart from Sonia who came first in the canicross version of the race but they started ahead of the regular field. It was also great to see Sonny and Si finish, especially Si who mainly lifts weights and really isn’t built for running but did a great job none the less.
So will I go back and do it again? Probably! Lets just say I’m a sucker for punishment! Hopefully I can fit in some training runs up there and come back stronger in the future as there’s always potential for me to place in the top 3 at some point despite this occasion seeing me finish in 12th with a time of 49.36mins which is still nearly a minute and a half quicker than last year. As I said on one my Instagram posts, the size of my improvements are getting smaller and that’s where the hard work begins but until then its still nice to see improvements even when I’m not feeling on top form.
