Ghost Running: Les Witton 10 Mile, Dartford

On my journey to recovery it is going slowly and I am trying my hardest not to get too carried away and make my back worse but also not take it too slow that it jeopardises my marathon in the summer. I figured one way to get some distance in my legs without giving up was to enter a race. The Dartford Les Witton 10 mile race came along just at the right time. I have run the race twice before but I needed to not think about race times or previous pacing and just go out and see what I could do. My plan if I struggled was to walk if necessary but as long as I finished then this would be a big step. Time was not important.
Partially for this reason I decided to almost Ghost the race - okay not quite as I did enter properly - but I neglected to mention it online in any way so I could go completely free of any pressures. The plan was not to race, not to pace, put a smile on my face and get it done.
Prior to the start I bumped into Martin and had a nice catch up, I was good to be back on the race circuit as I realised I haven't raced since Brussels last October which for me is a fairly long old time. We also got chatting to an ORR named George, then I realise, this was THE George as I exclaimed, "Are you Jerry's George?" looking slightly alarmed the blog and ultra infamous George said that he was. Moments later I realised I should have in fact introduced myself then my slightly starstruck-ness because clear and I seemed a little less crazy.
Heading the the start line I felt a bit sick and pretty cold, rain was expected so I had my waterproof but I knew I wouldn't need it for long, 1 mile later it was round my waist where it would stay, nuisance!
It was a tough effort for me and a pretty hilly/undulating race but I kept plugging away and in the second half I bagen to slowly pick off a few runners as fewer passed me. By 8 miles I was pretty shot and wishing the end was closer. At mile 9 I suspected I may be about to suffer a horrendous bout of runners trots - luckily a 30 second walk cured this or I don't know what I would have done. The closer I got to the finish the old competitive spirit kicked in and I pushed up the pace as much as I could which wasn't much but I didn't want anyone pipping me to the line. I finished in just under 1h 37mins, a personal worst but felt amazing, I knew I wouldn't have done the miles by myself, the support of a race was what I needed so I was delighted to have got round in one piece  I bought myself to a cuppa only having £1 on me but someone took pity and treated me to a bacon butty. 
All in all good results if not in time; ran 10 miles, got a medal, avoided runners trots, felt good, got a free butty!!