The Final Countdown of the Great Manchester 10K Run

Middleton Rotary club member Keith Trinnaman has been documenting his progress towards competing in Great Manchester Run, now it’s done here is the story of the day itself and the build up.

Well 14 weeks of training are over and the big day has come and gone and I have to say it was a fantastic experience.

Before I start I have to tell you that on 3 May I got the phone call I was expecting and also dreading. Joy, my sister, had passed away at 02:00 hours that morning. No matter how much warning you get, when someone close to you is taken it still devastates you. I have to say that for all of that day I felt pretty numbed, and was very deep in thought with so many memories going through my head. She was only 56! Knowing how positive she and Brian (her husband) have been throughout, and as they have been so inspirational, through their strength and positive outlook – what else could I do but look on the positive side; it is what she would have wanted. She was with me (in spirit) on the run, and in my heart forever – so I continued to ensure others can benefit from what I am doing in supporting Macmillan Cancer Support.

So to the final week building up to the run. On the Monday I got a call from Amiee at Macmillan’s to say that they had read my Rochdale Online articles and would like me to summarise them for the BBC to feature in their highlights program, covering the run on the Sunday afternoon. I was delighted to do this and I have to say that the piece the BBC showed did bring a tear to my eye.

I completed my last training run on Thursday doing another 10k, lightly paced, in the gym. This brings my statistics to the following, taken from when I started my training back in February. I have run for over 38 hours covering a distance of 226 miles and in that time lost 24 lb in weight. Quite staggering when I look back, but the training was well worthwhile. I did no more exercise for the next few days. All my main meals leading up to the day consisted of pasta, of some sort, to help build up energy levels.

Brian, my brother, arrived from London on Saturday night to cheer me on. On the Sunday we were up early to get things prepared and I felt fairly relaxed and excited by it all.

My race start time was at 11:00 and we got parked up (right by the finish line) by about 09:15, took a stroll round the centre and to the charity village soaking up the atmosphere, which was great.

Went to say hello to Ellie at the Macmillan stand then back outside to prepare for the moment that I had trained so much for.

At the start of the race I wanted to watch the clock to see what time I actually started on, but was so concentrating on not tripping up due to the crowded start that I forgot to check! So I was off and running and was surprised that it only took about 500m for the runners to space out a bit so I soon got into my stride and what I thought was my comfortable pace.

It was hard to judge what pace I was doing because there were runners at varying levels.

At the 1.5k mark Cath, my twin boys and a few friends were there to cheer me on - which gave me a boost.

I was relatively comfortable for the first 5k then began to feel a bit tired and a little puffed.

Not long after that I got another welcome boost with a couple of Rotary friends, Keith and Janice, cheering me on, then again at 7k where Macmillan had a cheering point.

On the return leg I was watching the next phase of runners run out on the other side and thought ‘well at least I’m on the way back’!

I was feeling more and more tired but I had pictures of my sister in my mind driving me on.

The 9.5k mark, where Cath and the boys were, seemed to take an age to get to but they gave me the lift I needed to put a spurt on for the finish line.

At this point I was convinced I would need to speed up to get under the 60 minute mark, so it was a great surprise to see the clock just coming up to 51 minutes, (in fact my official time was 50m 25s). Then over the line I went, elated but with a tear in my eye for my sister – I knew with the time I had achieved, and the money I had raised she would be proud of me.

I have to say I was so impressed with the way the run was organised, and even more impressed by the 31,000 runners and all the support that turned out. When you think of the fact that all these runners were raising funds for a lot of charities you just feel proud to be amongst them. When all is said and done there are many good people around and we shouldn’t forget that.

What a journey this has been tinged with great sadness, but Joy was the reason for me starting out on it and in doing so £1670 has been raised for Macmillan, which will help them to make things a little easier for others through the great work that they do.

Of course it’s not too late to donate and you can do so via the following link:

www.justgiving.com/keithtrinnaman

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my story, thanks.

Trinni