Built for speed

Well this has sort of crept up on me this year: tomorrow is the day of the Dysart Dash 10k!

This'll be my fourth year running it, and to be brutally honest I really don't have a clue how it's going to go. I've just taken a misty-eyed glimpse through the Sparky Malarkey archives (Sparky Malarchives, perhaps?) to discover that the first time I did it I was apprehensive but ultimately proud of the fact I got a medal, while the second time I powered through a knee injury that inexplicably rectified itself mid-run, and subsequently got an almost identical time to my first attempt, while last year I got a new PB (that's personal best - just some running lingo for you there) and beat my erstwhile running companion Sweatband for the first time.

This year's been a bit of a weird one so far, though, because I was training like a (please excuse my turn of phrase here) bitch in heat earlier in the year and was doing some utterly mad-bonkers runs - quite often logging two 10k runs and a 6-7k each week. And then I was involved in a car accident and everything went a bit to pot.

Any-hoo, on the plus side I have, of course, been properly yoga-ing up recently, albeit at the expense of running. That being the case, while I've only been averaging about 7-8k once a week rather than the 25+k I was doing pre-accident, when I have been running the benefits of the yoga (most noticeably the breathing) have been shining through. So, while my lack of run training would appear to work against me, the yoga might work for me - so maybe something somewhere will balance out and I can get a decent (i.e. a Sweatband-beating) time. I don't think I'll beat last year, but maybe I can fall somewhere in the middle ground between 2008 and 2007?

Curiously, though, I've just noticed that my race number this year is 83 - exactly the same as it was last year. Could this be some sort of serendipitous good omen? I hope so. Anyway, my iPod is loaded with tunes, my kit is washed and ready, and I shaved earlier to make my face more aerodynamic - all that remains for me to do is pin that potentially-lucky number on my vest, chillax and hydrate myself this evening, and pray it doesn't rain tomorrow (it has been today, and the towpath along the side of the Thames will be a nightmare if it's all muddy) - fingers crossed and wish me luck!