Stratford Summer Six - 02 July 2011...

Distance: 6 miles

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
00:32:16 Personal Best!!!

Finishing Position: 1
Number of finishers: 193
Putting me in the top: 0.51%

I absolutely love this event - It's local to where I spent most of my life growing up, and to where I started running (and still run many of my LSR's with Dad in tow on his bike), and there's something just brilliant about racing on a Saturday Evening during the summer. Last year I was suitably whooped by Toby Spencer, but to my knowledge he wasn't racing this year - though team 'Kenilworth Runners' was out in force, including Andrew Siggers (Shakespeare Marathon Winner), which should keep me on my toes. As always it was going to be a case of 'see who turns up on the day'. I was hoping to run sub 32mins, and to beat Toby's winning time from last year - after all it was only half a minute ahead of me last year - so should be doable.

The temperature was pretty warm, and a warmup jog over the first mile suggested that sunglasses would be a good option - not so much for the sun, but for the amount of bugs in the air!

With the race underway a group of 6 formed at the front over the first mile, with Phil Gould storming into the lead as he pushed on down the steep descent at the end of the first mile. The group reformed at the bottom and we essentially ran 3 abreast - 5 Kenilworth Runners, and one Coventry Godiva guy (Emerson Combstock) - see photo.

From 1.5mi I started to push the pace just a little, taking the front with Andrew Siggers on my shoulder. I decided to take my sunglasses off and rest them on my head - I'd only decided to wear them due to what seemed like an excessive amount of flies/midges in the air over the first mile... well within seconds of removing the glasses a fly went in my eye... so I put them back on and vowed to keep them there.

Approaching 2miles I edged into the lead and the group was more or less thinned out - I felt strong and comfortable and confident of my ability to take the win. I pushed on past the drinks station at 3mi, but before 4mi I was starting to struggle with my footwear - that morning (as I recall) I'd taken delivery of my latest investment - some of the lightest race shoes on the market - the Asics Piranha SP3. They really are a stripped back lightweight shoe, and perhaps I was a little optimistic to think they'd be alright having only tried them on for 5mins inside the house. Well to summarise, my feet were burning up - and by 4mi they were on fire, to the extent that it was affecting the way I was running.

The discomfort seemed to ease a little, though not disappear and I pushed on as best I could (with legs starting to fatigue), heading back towards Wilmcote, I pushed on up the steep hill at the start of the final mile (it's amazing how much easier it is when there isn't another runner breathing down your neck), and enjoyed the run into the finish.

I finished feeling like I'd given my all and went to the race officials to find out my finish time. 32:16 was a bit disappointing to be honest - not really much quicker than last years race! Not to worry though - it was most pleasing to win, but not only that much more pleasing to see a sea of green vests finish behind me - occupying 5 of the first 6 spots - team Kenilworth had run a near perfect race to take the team prize. Well done boys!