I had spent the last couple of weeks around my work collecting sponsors. Unfortunately everyone is banging on about “the credit crunch” and “The fuel, the fuel!”  At the moment so getting sponsorships was quite tricky. A simple way to describe it would be, “my colleagues where tighter than two coats of paint!”  I even tried a little tact; I told everyone that if they sponsored me I would run the 10k wearing just a Leopard Skin Thong! That didn’t work, as everyone said there would be nothing worse than seeing a werewolf wearing a thong, running through the woods! So anyway, I raised almost £100 in sponsors. Don’t worry I won’t make it cheesy by saying “every little helps!”

The day had come!

After last Sunday’s episode of the exploding porridge, I thought this morning couldn’t possibly get any worse, but it did! My colleague and lift had decided that it would be a very intelligent idea to go out and get drunk the night before the race. So Sunday morning they turned off their mobile phone and never showed up, probably something to do with the mammoth hangover they had! Thanks! I instantly thought of a certain celeb' that was running the London marathon a few years back. They let down all their sponsors by not doing any training and only managed to run a few miles. Luckily for me another colleague had entered and helped me out!

            So our team of five Tesco Extra runners was now down to three but Gemma, Simon and I were not going to let our loss spoil the day! Both Gemma and Simon, who are a couple by the way, had never run as far as 10k before. So from my last years experience I gave them some advice, I told them to just take it easy at the start and walk all the big hills and I told them to join the Carn Runners too! So we donned our Red Tesco Team T-shirts and numbers and headed down for the warm-up. Today I was a Carnie in disguise!

The start line was near the entrance to the Lanhydrock house, with a huge inflatable start line. There were over 700 entrants for this race, all gathered in their Cancer Research T-shirts with messages to friends and love ones who have been affected by cancer pinned on the back. Reading some of the messages you couldn’t help but feel for these people! Cancer affects everyone in one way or another. I lost my friend Lauren to Cancer; she was just 18 years old.

The event was hosted by Pirate FM radio and a DJ from the station was standing on a big stage giving out info. You really have to go along and experience it. I disappeared off away from the crowds for a jog and then rejoined Gemma and Simon for the group warm up. Two female fitness instructors were on stage doing the business in the true Mr. Motivator style! “And step – 1 -2 and back – 1 -2 and step!” I tried my best to copy them but it was too complicated for me, luckily I’d done a crafty warm up before-hand and just laughed and danced around like an idiot, as per usual! After that, we all gathered at the start line. I was feeling lucky as I couldn’t see any familiar faces, as this event is more about the money and less competitive than your usual event. However I’d raised my money, I was representing my store and I had last years time to beat, I was on a mission! I started about 10 places from the front!

 The race started and the first mile was downhill, as we got to the bottom of the road the route veered off into the woods, it was very muddy. I thought of all the poor first time runners who would have forked out a small fortune for a pair of fancy, bright white sneakers, only to find themselves on tip-toes trying to dodge the puddles! For the first time ever, I stayed with the front of the pack for at least 3 miles. I couldn’t believe it! I thought to myself, any second everyone is going to over take me, as they usually do, but they didn’t and I even managed to over take a few people; I counted 5 runners ahead of me. The course, which was a figure of eight route around the grounds of Lanhydrock house had some serious long muddy hills throughout. With three miles to go the race looped around, downhill and back to the start. I managed to overtake one runner on the hill and was met at the house by hundreds of cheering spectators. The Pirate FM lady who was commentating shouted “here comes the Tesco guy!” the crowd cheered and clapped, I felt so special! The race wasn’t over and I was quickly sent back into the woods for the final loop to the finish. The last section was so strange as I was all alone running through the woods and at one point I thought that perhaps I’d gone the wrong way, but I soon met a marshal who was holding a st. Austell running club flag who told me I was in 5th place. So I ran the final hill which was as muddy and steep as the rest, then took it to the finish. I was met by the Pirate FM lady shouting “here he comes, it’s the Tesco Guy!”  The crowd cheered and I lapped it up! I knew I wouldn’t be getting this much attention again, well at least until next years event! My race was complete and I had beaten last year’s time! I collected my medal and watched the hundreds of runners finish including my colleagues Gemma and Simon, who were so happy with their achievement!

So there you have it!

The Lanhydrock 10k is a great event not to be missed. It’s for a great cause and also makes people think you are a really fast runner! Thanks to Gemma for the lift, thanks to Pirate FM and all the great people who helped organise it, thanks to Tesco for putting up with me and  well-done to everyone who took part in the 10k!"

Steve Hole