Result from last year: 0:57:47
Current 10k PB: 0:46:30

My target for this race was around 0:46:00 but I have had a fairly hard week with another 10k race last Thursday which saw me get 47.22 on a fairly hard multi terrain course.

After having helped out on my mums boat yesterday I stopped the night at hers, and seeing as the race was 2miles down the road It made sense.
A fairly restless night saw me wake up at 0430, 0500, 0547 and 0643 despite the bed being fairly comfy. I guess the fear of oversleeping was making my paranoid so I gav up trying to sleep any more and got into the shower.
Upon waking my stomach felt a bit squiffy, nothing major just a tad acidic so I decided I best get my brekkie fairly soon… at the very least should settle my stomach a bit. It didn’t really and semi-skimmed milk instead of the skimmed that im used to seamed to add to the sicky feeling. In the end I forced it down and then reached for the water and just prayed that 2.5hrs would be enough time to settle it down.

I left the house at 0800 and walked the 3miles from the house down the canal to the start which saw me arrive at around 0845. A 1000 start so plenty of time.
A few people milling around so I thought I would take the opportunity to christen the nice fresh port-a-loos … quite nice port-a-loos for the record as well :p

I had a wonder around the school grounds, it was the same as last year but it at least gave me something to visualise for when things are getting tuff.

I located the changing rooms which were a classroom with blinds pulled shut. The school is a first school so I guess 5yr- 8yr ish, but three things struck me…
1. How tiny the desk/ chairs are.
2. How it was fairly random that they had a display on the wall for “The 1960’s”
3. How cute it was that there was steps in front of the white board for the iccle sprogs to  reach the top.

Anyway I got changed and handed my bag in. This allowed me a good 10-15mins to warm so I went through my usual routine of some sprints, bum kicks, and strides.

I never really remember that much about my runs so apologies if this is a bit sketchy..

The route was pretty simple.. two 5km loops.
Head off towards the town, turn left onto the ring road, head towards the A34, turn left, head to the A51 junction., turn left, and then turn left again back towards the start.
The only difference was on the second lap, the last little bit when they cut a corner off, and then finish on the school playing field.

There wasn’t any chip times, so it was very cramped at the start with everyone trying to get as close to the front as possible. Everyone crowded onto the road ready for the start… the whistle went and we were off…

Pretty un-eventful first 2-3 km’s trying to keep a good pace going, without going too hard and blowing up. I dropped in behind a younger chap and decided to follow. There was another chap running along with him and I quickly realised that he was acting as a pacer. The pacer bloke kept whizzing off, stopping.. taking pics of the younger chap so I assume he was a fairly handy runner. I overheard him say that the young lad was on target for 45mins… despite wearing my garmin, ive stopped looking at it in races, so whilst it was good to hear he (I) was on target, I didn’t really want to know.

Turning back towards the start to finish the first lap the crowds picked up a bit, which having my name printed on my vest following the marathon I could lots of “Go Peeeteee” , “ dig deep” etc which always seams to wake me up a bit as I tend to loose focus if left on my own.

5km.. had to slow to get water, which I then proceeded to choke on, although it was nice to see a race where rather than giving you a full cup or a full bottle.. it was a
plastic cup with about an inch in at the bottom.. a perfect amount IMO!!

Again nothing major to report 5-7km.. I was still in touch with the 45min chappy from above although his mate had disappeared but I kept plodding.

8km I started to get a twinge of stitch. Nothing major, but just enough to by that fear of dread into me,  im not sure if it was this, or a slight climb that saw my average pace for this KM drop from around the 4.35min -  to 4.47 not a huge slow down, but still an extra 12 seconds. During this km my 45min pacer chappy had started to creep away from me. I didn’t really stress too much as although I wasn’t going sub45, I was fairly sure it would be a PB.

Turning the corner back towards the school and finish I see 45min chappy stood at the side chucking up.. I know it will sound harsh and I don’t know why but I couldn’t help chuckle to myself (between trying to catch my breath)

I tried to kick slight to the finish but my body wasn’t having it.. in the end I was just glad to reach the finish.

Official results….

… *huzzah!*