Dalby Dash 10k, great fun!  Sunday morning I woke not feeling to great to be honest, tired and aching.  Todays run was a late start which actually was a good thing today but normally I like the early starts so I can be back in good time.  It was to be an 11.02 start, the 2 been the 2 minute silence we observed before the dash began.  I made it to Dalby Forest in good time after thinking I'd be late as normal, but I ended up being ushered through to the second carpark which was a few mins walk away from the Visitor centre and registration. It was cold, I was planning on running in shorts with compression top and shirt with windproof jacket on.  I was sat in the car with tracksuit bottoms, hoody and woolly hat on, with fear running through my body from opening the door to get to my trainers ha ha!  Once I'd plucked up the courage that was it we were off, shoes on, hoody and bottoms off and hat thrown in to the back of the car.  I set off for the visitor centre, I actually even started to run as thought it would help me stay warm ( I have never done that before lol)!  Apon arrival I checked in and got my number and began to prepare myself for the forth coming run.  I was looking round to see if I recognised anyone as thought there were going to be a few that I knew.  After standing in the reception area just trying to keep warm before that shock of going outside again, I started bumping in to people I knew so it soon became a friendly fun environment with lots of smiley faces all doing the same thing, hiding and huddling together inside knowing how chilly it was on the outside ha ha!

Once we'd braved going out the door and gathering near the start line we had the race brief followed by the Race Directors little Poem which was great fun.  We observed a two minute silence for Rememberance Day then he shouted 3,2,1 go really quickly and we were off! It was a steady start down the road and as per usually it was all the giddy chatter and banter before the grind started.  Over the bridge then a left turn in to Dalby village, which was literally a few houses, then onwards up the hill!  Now with me not doing this run before and being aware of this hill I was slightly cautious to start with as didn't really know the severity or distance of the incline so I just kind of went with the flow with the intention of trying to run all of it.  Maybe it was better not knowing how far the incline would last as my determination to keep running was high.  My breathing became heavy to the point of panting but my legs stayed strong, so each time the voice in my head kept saying I needed to stop and walk I had to question why!  I was managing my heavy breathing, it hadn't got the point where I couldn't get enough air in and my legs seemed ok with the current output so I had to just say shut up to myself and push on.  If there's no obvious reason to walk other than the voice in my head then I have to push on.  It was tough towards the top since it had been approximately 2 miles of climbing but I could now see the brough of the hill, my legs were becoming heavy but my breathing was the same so I wasn't going to stop now, no chance!  Over the brough and from the race description and a few peoples comments it was all downhill now.  In the past I have heard things like this and trusted them and eventually been let down which breaks in to your spirit but this time I just decided it is what it is and get on with it and push push push its only 10k!!!

This was turning in to a great fun event.  I actually felt like I was a proper runner, I was striding out and running at a bit of pace for once!  Oh yeah that's because it was downhill all the way ha ha!  It did feel good though and helped to push on and want to do better because there was no excuses for slowing down even towards the end when it flattened out I still had the desire to push on as hard as I could.  I have very rarely done this in my running as always just been happy to go at 'my pace' but it is now something I'm trying to improve on so I will enter more short events just to get that again now I have gained some confidence from it.

After I'd passed through the finish I made my way back to the Visitor Centre to collect my momento which in this case was a great pair of running gloves with 'Dalby Dash 10k 2017' printed on them which was cool. My mind was then preoccupied with having to get back to the club as I was at work at 2pm so needed to get a crack on.  Guess what happened then, go on guess ha ha!! Yep I ran back to the car lol!

Dalby Dash 10k 2017 done, great event good fun!