Northbrook 10k - 15 May 2011...

Distance: 10k (6.2 miles)

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
00:32:52

Finishing Position: 1
Number of finishers: 298
Putting me in the top: 0.33%

I'd not raced this course before but was aware of it's unusual profile... a good number of climbs, but most of them out of the way in the earlier stages of the race, and with a final climb at 7km, it's not long after (maybe 7.5km?) that a long descent all the way to the finish begins... this, I thought, would work really well for me - I decided I would treat the race as if it were only 8km, and then once I'm at 8km, the downhill would hopefully carry me to the finish whilst still maintaining a reasonable pace.

With the race underway, a few of us settled in behind a young looking lad - I didn't recognise him from local races although I'm sure he was wearing a local vest (possibly Sphinx), for that reason I wasn't too concerned about him starting to open a gap on and after the uphill first km.

As the course started to descend slightly we comfortably closed the small gap to the leader and overtook. He didn't put up a fight and I was soon leading the race at what felt like a very easy/comfortable pace with a group following immediately behind. Another runner, Ian Mansell, who I've competed closely with (and been beaten by) in the past came alongside me. I know Ian has had trouble with injury over the past year or so and therefore wasn't in top form but at 2km Ian started to put surges of speed in... it completely baffled me... "What on earth is he doing?" I thought... he was putting in the sort of surges that you might put in during the latter stages of a race to make a break for the win. It baffled me to such an extent that whilst I was confident I could beat him, I didn't want to let him go. Being conscious of the fact that I'd raced a Half Marathon the previous weekend I knew such surges of speed wouldn't favour me well, so as Ian put in a third or fourth surge, I went with him but continued to push a relatively hard pace, to which Ian responded by dropping back, allowing me to quickly open up a gap.

I eased the pace slightly, but just enough that I felt I wasn't working too hard - I used the course to my advantage and each time there was a tight turn whereby I momentarily moved out of sight of the chasing pack I would pick up the pace momentarily to increase the gap before they'd even realised. Whether this actually made much/any difference I don't know, but I did it nonetheless.

I felt strong, if not a little fatigued as the race progressed - I suspect that having not ran as quick a time as I'd have liked at Stratford Half meant I hadn't worked my legs to their limits and as a result the recovery was fairly quick. I remember saying to team-mate Phil Gould at the start of the race that "It's all downhill once you pass the 7km marker"... as I thought it was... so it was quite a shock to the system when I turned a sharp corner at (or just after) the 7km marker only to be greeted with a good solid climb! Thankfully it was the last climb of the course and the steady descent to the finish began.

At this stage I wasn't really sure of what kind of a lead I had - other than that there wasn't anyone sat on my shoulder. I wasn't too keen on glancing backwards to find out either and decided I'd just push on as best I could, I'd have been pleased whatever the result as long as I'd pushed hard. So as the final few km unfolded, my legs were really starting to feel quite tired, but the gentle descent made it possible to really push the pace - it was very satisfying because whilst the fatigue/discomfort was evident, you could really feel the benefit of putting in the extra effort. I don't recall ever feeling like I'd ran so fast in a 10km race before. I finished and went to check my time - I'm sure they said 33:05, which I was delighted with considering the previous week's half marathon, but it later turned out to be 32:52, which was even more pleasing... fantastic in fact!

The battle for second place was like something reserved for special occaisions like the Olympics, not a low key local 10k race. Ian Mansell was in 2nd place coming into the home straight, followed by Phil Gould a good 20-30m behind. Phil usually has a strong finish and was noticeably increasing his pace - it looked like a very very long shot, but he was closing the gap to Ian... and closing it more... to the point where a 2nd place seemed almost possible, he was closing at such a pace and 2nd Ian was completely unaware of the challenge from behind - I wanted desperately to shout encouragement to Phil, but equally didn't want to alert Ian of the runner approaching from behind. As Phil was in absolute full flight, giving it his all, Ian realised his 2nd position was under threat and responded immediately with only 10-15m to go... with 5m to go Ian had the lead, with maybe 2m to go they were tied, and as they crossed the line Phil had just about edged ahead. Absolutely fantastic stuff to watch - the picture which appeared in the local papers completely sums up the moment.