Stratford's Big 10k - 11 September 2011...

Distance: 10k (6.2 miles)

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
00:34:04

Finishing Position: 3
Number of finishers: 619
Putting me in the top: 0.48%

With last weeks success at the Kenilworth Half Marathon, part of me was hoping, and almost expecting a good result (time wise) in this race. I knew the course was deceptively slow (i.e. in theory it's fast, but in reality there's a couple of climbs and I've never ran a good time over it), and that a strong headwind in the first 4km was almost inevitable (having been the case in the previous 2 runnings of this race), and that my legs would still be tired and recovering from the half marathon - despite this I was hopeful of a new 10k PB, if I could just pace things well. As for race competition, I knew Coventry Godiva runner Harvey Speed had mentioned he might run - he'd always been ahead of me but I felt in a good position to take him on, or at least be running alongside him in the latter stages of the race.

I eventually got hold of my race number & chip, leaving a not-so-generous 8.5 minutes to warm up and join the startline. I jogged a bit and lined up, and the race was soon underway. Cautious not to get caught up in the opening charge I was running with a group occupying perhaps 3rd to 10th place, with Harvey Speed a short distance ahead in 2nd, and an unknown runner storming off in 1st place "crikey, I hope he's going to slow down!" I thought.

I eased into 3rd spot after about half a kilometer as the race hit the greenway, a chalk/gravel type path with a steady headwind. Glancing at my watch after 1km marker, I'd gone through in 3:22... a bit slow, but nothing to worry about, and certainly no cause to speed up - a negative split was the target, so that's what I was determined to do.

I maintained a consistant effort along the greenway, and whilst the gap to second place grew a little more in the early stages, from 3-4km the gap seemed fairly static - the headwind picked up in places to put a notable dent in the pace, but the effort remained consistent throughout.

Soon after 4km we reached the Milcote crossing which saw the end of the greenway, a sharp left hand turn and and finally onto the road. I could feel a notable difference in pace despite no extra effort - the wind seemed to go absolutely dead, okay I know that'd usually what it feels like when you go from a headwind into a tailwind, but the trees alongside the road weren't moving an inch - the breeze really had died down quite noticeably.

The increase in pace felt comfortable, so I started to push on a little as we approached the first climb - the gap to second place was gradually reducing, though reaching somewhere between 6-7km is probably where the gap reached its smallest - about 75% of that which it was on the greenway, so probably around 60m.

Reaching 7km is where I really wanted to push on, but as I tried, there just wasn't anything left in the legs - the slightest increase in pace seemed to require and exponential increase in effort, so I just tried to hold the best pace I felt I could maintain all the way to the finish.

The great marshals gave plenty of support and as the course reached the final stretch along the riverside there was plenty of support from the public, and the nicest of surprises when I passed my mother and grandmother supporting me, both with a gleaming smile as I came passed, that really picked me up as I began putting the hammer down for the finish line.

Over the line I stopped my watch - 34:04... "Really? Bugger... I thought it was quicker than that! It certainly felt quicker than that!". Still I quickly rationalised that I'd ran a hard half marathon the week before which would still be in my legs, and that this was the third year where I'd run slower than I'd hoped at this course... the reality was that it's simply not a super-fast course.

My gap to Harvey in 2nd place was circa 20 seconds... so not as close a gap as I'd have liked, but I now feel confident that on a good day with rested legs, I could've been much closer, if not alongside Harvey in the latter stages.

Prizes were given out by Dave Moorcroft - though I almost missed the prizegiving.

Try again next year eh?