Kenilworth Killer - 15 May 2010...

Distance: 10k (6.2 miles)

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
00:36:11

Finishing Position: 1
Number of finishers: 145
Putting me in the top: 0.68%

Recovery from the London Marathon had been going well - I could feel I wasn't quite back to 100%, but I'd had a good run at the local Park Run the week before this race, much better than expected in fact. I knew this race was never going to be a PB run, but I wanted to attack it hard and find out more about where I was at physically.

The week preceding the race I found out Phil Gould would be running, he's a fellow club member and a bit of a cross country and hilly race specialist. I was about on par with Phil in terms of running ability when we hit the roads, but as soon as it came to off-road stuff Phil beat me every time. I'd tried all manner of different approaches to races, from starting easy and attacking later on in the race (where Phil would just open up a massive, unassailable lead), running even paced (where Phil would open up a gap early on due to his infamous fast starts, and I might close in marginally during the latter stages), or trying to sit on Phil's shoulder (in which case I just fatigued very early on and blew up... falling back drastically in the latter stages). So how could I approach this race then? My objective for the race became "must try to beat Phil", even though I knew it was unlikely - so I had to think long and hard about what to do and consult many running friends for their thoughts and advice.

The advice of many was to just run the race as best I could, since I knew Phil was likely to beat me, my best chance was to run the best race I could and hope that Phil struggled. It made perfect sense, but I wanted more! Could I somehow use tactics to disrupt Phil's race pacing to my advantage? As mentioned before, I knew it wasn't going to be a PB race, more of a learning exercise, and if it all went wrong - so what? I'd rather have given it my all and failed miserably than to finish behind Phil wondering "What if?".

The plan developed such that I would do the only thing I hadn't really tried before - and it was something I was very nervous about. The plan was to beat Phil at his own game; traditionally Phil has always started very hard and pushed the pace, and then been able to hang on better than his rivals (e.g. me!). Risky as it was, my plan was to start comfortably hard, sticking with Phil, and then attack very early on, daring anyone to come with me.

As we lined up at the start, the race field wasn't very big, but there was a reasonable size for such a small event, and I noticed a few good runners, and also a few unfamiliar faces that also looked like strong runners.

The race was soon underway, and I settled into a comfortable pace alongside Phil, just behind two guys from Warwick University who took the early lead. Phil and I followed them, Phil shouting directions as the two Warwick Uni guys seemed to struggle following the course directions. We soon reached the first climb and I thought "easy does it... take it steady up the hill and attack the downhill". I dropped my effort levels slightly and just took very small steps to get up the hill, the Warwick Uni guys seemed to start edging away, but not as much as I'd expected, we reached the top of the hill, and my memory is fuzzy, I can't remember if I was ahead or behind Phil at this point, but was certainly behind the Warwick Uni Guys.

Along a short (50m) flat section at the top of the banking we'd just climbed and we were running downhill; having saved energy on the climb I attacked the descent and flew past the Warwick Uni guys to take the lead "Right, this is it" I thought, and pushed on past the descent, maintaining a fast pace around the lake trying to break the field behind. It's a strange sensation, because you know you're going faster than you should be, and you're not entirely sure what's going on behind you.

I pushed on, and on, opening up a bit of a gap, but I was hurting already. A reasonably long climb, followed by a flat section and then good descent saw the end of Lap 1 (of this 3 lap race). I knew I had a bit of a gap, but not much at all - I was still hurting but didn't dare ease off, so began to focus on doing nothing more than completing lap 2. A few points on the course were switchback sections where you had a chance to see the runners behind. Of course the problem is with a switchback that the gap only appears half as big as it actually is (i.e. you're running away from the switchback point, whilst the competitor behind you is still running towards the turn point, but the brain doesn't really consider that!). One such switchback spurred me on to push further in the hope that if I could open up a bit more of a gap, perhaps it would demoralize any 'chasers'. It seemed to work a bit - or at least the gap was getting bigger!

I started the third lap and was really really struggling at this point, I passed Pete Matthews who was supporting, and I remember thinking how terrible my form felt - I could feel myself bending at the waist and leaning forwards - my arms flapping with open hands and my mouth wide open as I grunted trying to get more air into my burning lungs. I dread to think what my split was for that final lap, but I managed to maintain a gap and once I'd reached the top of the final climb I realized the race was in the bag - I could relax and enjoy the home stretch. I was absolutely delighted and shouted "YESS!!" as I crossed the line - I was so pleased with the performance. Phil finished soon after and we shared congratulations on good performances.

Nothing more to say really... other than that I went on to be the 'hare' for the fun-run, leading all the fun-runners round a 1mi course dressed as Scooby Doo. The bouncing head nearly gave me a black eye I swear!