Twixmas 10k

I'd never heard of this race before, and nor had I heard of Twixmas, the old term for the week between Christmas and New Year.  This was the second race that the lovely Mrs S and I had entered together, and we drove down to Porchester on a bright and cold morning.

There was a lot of pfaffing around at the start.  The logistics of handing out race numbers weren't terribly smooth, and as a result the start was delayed by about 20 minutes... not terribly welcome news as we had just about warmed up after a lot of jumping about on the frosty playing field.  I was also a bit grumpy about the lack of a course map.

We set off at quite a pace, with some tight turns around the fields.  It was a sparklingly clear morning, and soon we were on to the coastal path, everything glinting and dazzling around us.  The course turned out to be dead simple; a straight there-and-back chase along the coast.  I'm not a fan of one-directional running, but in this case it offered the benefits of:

1. getting to find out who was ahead and behind;
2. having an opportunity to wave to Mrs S;
3. having a good sense of what the second half was going to offer; and
4. enjoying all the scenery from two directions

My pacing felt OK and I came home in seventh place in 38:13.  Here are the stats.  Not a magnificent time on a fast flat course, but I wonder whether the low temperature had an impact.  Mrs S finished her first-ever 10k in a very respectable time having loved every moment of it.  A quirky race with a sense of humour (Twix bars for all finishers) and I suspect we may be back.