My knees are really hurting as I write this. They’re not too bad whilst I’m sitting down (more a dull thudding sensation letting me know that I’ve done something), but when I attempt a flight of stairs they scream out as though they can’t possibly hold my weight up any longer. Going down is much worse than coming up, but it’s even slow going on level surfaces. What’s worse is that I did it to myself. I took part in the Derbyshire Building Society 10k in Derby yesterday morning.

But what a great time I had! Ordinarily I manage to just about tolerate running as a necessity for getting and keeping fit. I sometimes tolerate it more than I do at other times, but never has it before reached a level where I’ve finished and wished I could just carry on. There was a grin on my face from beginning to end. With the sun shining and the adrenalin pumping, it was just a lovely morning to be out on a run with over 3,000 like-minded people. Of course, most were much faster than both myself and @Mooley, but we defeated the challenge we set for ourselves (namely finishing) and it was great to see @Mooley complete her very first 10k in an extremely respectable time.

Staff were still setting up the stalls which occupied the carpark in front of Pride Park Stadium as we arrived, due to the fact that I had decided we needed to be there much earlier than we actually did. I thought we’d have to register once we arrived and I pre-empted a long queue; neither of which was true. So a cup of tea in Starbucks proceeded a quick walk around the stadium in order to stretch our legs before heading to the start line. Well, I say the start line. We actually started two minutes walk away from where the front runners were, but that was fine by me.

For those who know Derby I shall give a brief summary of the route, though you should be able to see it on my Nike+ tracking page (probably won’t work on an iPhone). We started in front of the ground before heading through Pride Park and over the fly-over into town. We ran under the Cockpit carpark, down The Morledge and through town up to the Cathedral Quarter, before turning back on ourselves and heading towards the new bus station. We headed around the back of that to the river and made our way through Bass’ Rec, towards town once more along the footpath and out onto Station Approach, heading the other way up the fly-over. We then ran to the second roundabout along (just passed Egg), turned left and left again at the stadium roundabout. We reached the fly-over once more, but took the path down to the river instead, making a sharp right turn to head back in the direction of the ground. We carried on underneath the bridge which heads to The Wyvern Centre and took the path by the side of the indoor football pitches back towards the ground. A quick skirt around the outside and we were into the stadium. At this point the finish line was just on the other side and we completed the race around the edge of the pitch with people cheering us on from the stand.

And that was that! I loved the route, but probably because I’m from Derby and it was great to be taking part in something around my home town. It’s a shame it was so early on a Sunday morning that there weren’t too many people around in the city centre to watch, but then I guess they wouldn’t have been able to close all the roads or the pedestrian areas through town if there were more people milling around.

If it’s on again next year I’m definitely taking part. I’m also in the mood to do something a bit longer, but I shouldn’t really until my cycle from London to Paris is done and dusted. Now I really have to kick my training for that up a notch as there’s just under three months remaining until it begins. I’m getting a bit nervous now!