Guy Gibson was recently proclaimed to be a bastard by Katy White in her magnificent “Enigma, Need for Speed” marathon report, I can now confirm that he certainly is. Putting me through unnecessary hell in the middle of the week…… Of course I jest and would really like to thank Guy for inviting me along and doing the driving to a low key but really enjoyable and as ever for our yeller bellied cousins south of the river, well organised road race in Nth. Lincs.

The Clickem Inn 10 mile road race is part of a series ran by Wolds Veterans and takes place on the quiet rural roads around Swinhope in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds. I was attracted to the race after Guy had posted a notice on the Harriers facebook page. Being as “steady” 10 miler fit in exactly with my marathon training plan for Berlin, I figured it would be ideal preparation. This however was before I found that I do have a competitive edge to me after all.

My thoughts had been that I’d take it easy and just get the mileage under my belt (having done 7 miles the night before and 17 just two days before that). Guy of course went off into the distance and as I can rarely get anywhere near him, I was happy for this to happen, especially as at this stage I still planned to take it easy.

The problems began when around 2 miles in, I realised that I was running step for step with a gent from the Lincsolnshire Wolds Vets, after half a mile or so of running head to head, we began to talk to each other and he was indeed a really nice bloke, giving me some great advice about the course ahead, where the hills were and which ones to be wary of and even the location of some nice walks around the area. I didn’t mention before, but one of the reasons Guy receives the expletives, is that he never mentioned how tough the race was (he might not actually have known, but what the hell, someone has to take the blame).

The course is all on road and is two laps, so you do the same tough hills twice – one at roughly two and six miles, the other, which lasts for best part of a mile, at 5 and 10, so yes, the finishing straight is a tough uphill sprint (or my version of sprinting anyway). One of the reasons I had intended to take things easy, was I’d arranged to do my scheduled 20 mile training run the following Friday with Danny Wilson (thanks for pulling me through on that Danny), however when I got to six energy sapping miles, much of it pushed along by my new found friend from Wolds Runners, who (and here’s where the competitiveness comes in) I just didn’t want to lose face with by dropping the pace, I was feeling confident. By the time we’d done 8 miles, I was really hanging on, but thought what the hell, the damage is done now and no point trying to save my legs for Friday.

On the final uphill straight, I was assured that there was just less than a mile to go, so with a slight tinge of audacity, I actually managed to pull away, only by a couple of seconds as we crossed the finish line, but it gave me a massive confidence boost to actually pull away from a runner who I’d been inwardly struggling to keep up with for the previous 8 miles.

Of course we finished the evening off with the mandatory beer in the eponymous Clickem Inn, which is a magnificent pub that has many CAMRA awards to its name, but where the landlord it seems is universally known to be a miserable bastard. Well, Guy might be a bastard, but he’s the last person to be called miserable, thanks very much for the experience Guy and good luck with your pursuit of 100 marathons.

Results for me and Guy on this hot and hilly little monkey of a race were :

• Guy 27^th place in 76:42
• Myself 29^th place in 78:07