My parents were visiting for the weekend from Cheltenham so a day of watching me race then a trip to Southsea to watch the dday concert on the seafront was planned the day before.
I woke and opened the curtains at 8 am after a fairly long night out in town to see unbroken sunshine and immediately feared the combination of heat and slight hangover were not going to let me have the race of my life.
Undeterred, after a couple of pints of sports drink and some porridge we set off for the station, meeting my business partner Liam (who was doing his first run for a while and decided to run with me) at Cosham Station on the way.
I first managed to break the 50 minute barrier for the first time at Eastleigh in 2013 in my 4th 10k, but due to entering 3 marathons in the last 8 months I haven’t entered too many 10ks, and have managed 47:37 at Wyvern last year, 48:17 at Stubbington, 47:17 at Eastleigh and 49:30 at Netley in my four efforts since. With a marathon just 5 weeks ago and a lack of interval training I decided to run as close to 7 45/ mile pace as possible and to speed up from 4.5 m if I was feeling strong and to try and sneak a PB.
I woke and opened the curtains at 8 am after a fairly long night out in town to see unbroken sunshine and immediately feared the combination of heat and slight hangover were not going to let me have the race of my life.
Undeterred, after a couple of pints of sports drink and some porridge we set off for the station, meeting my business partner Liam (who was doing his first run for a while and decided to run with me) at Cosham Station on the way.
I first managed to break the 50 minute barrier for the first time at Eastleigh in 2013 in my 4th 10k, but due to entering 3 marathons in the last 8 months I haven’t entered too many 10ks, and have managed 47:37 at Wyvern last year, 48:17 at Stubbington, 47:17 at Eastleigh and 49:30 at Netley in my four efforts since. With a marathon just 5 weeks ago and a lack of interval training I decided to run as close to 7 45/ mile pace as possible and to speed up from 4.5 m if I was feeling strong and to try and sneak a PB.
Assembling at the start we bumped into Robson, Jo, Sarah, Kevin, Matt, Mark, Keith and Richard and we chatted about how the race might go. As soon as the race began it was very disheartening to see the whole group of them go zooming off into the distance. I tried to forget about them and just relax into the run and to settle into target pace.
The course wasn’t as boring as I had imagined. It seemed like 3 laps of a car park but there was enough to look at to keep it half interesting. I was chatting to Liam and the first two miles flew by. A quick check of the garmin and we had completed them in 15 : 40, within 10 seconds or so of target. I started to see hedgie vests ahead of me and spent miles 3 and 4 very slowly catching and passing a few other hedgies. (I should add this never happens to me, its always the other way around with me being caught)
After 4 miles I checked the watch again and was just 17 seconds behind target pace so I thought it could be on, but was really starting to feel the heat. I grabbed two cups of water from the drinks station, poured them over my head to cool down and carried on towards the end.
The course wasn’t as boring as I had imagined. It seemed like 3 laps of a car park but there was enough to look at to keep it half interesting. I was chatting to Liam and the first two miles flew by. A quick check of the garmin and we had completed them in 15 : 40, within 10 seconds or so of target. I started to see hedgie vests ahead of me and spent miles 3 and 4 very slowly catching and passing a few other hedgies. (I should add this never happens to me, its always the other way around with me being caught)
After 4 miles I checked the watch again and was just 17 seconds behind target pace so I thought it could be on, but was really starting to feel the heat. I grabbed two cups of water from the drinks station, poured them over my head to cool down and carried on towards the end.
Mile 5 was the slowest of the race for me in 8 02, so by the end of it we were 34 seconds behind target. To sneak a pb I knew the last mile would have to be run in 7 mins. We planned to try to speed up from 5.5 miles to achieve this. Unfortunately, whilst able to speed up a touch there was no big finish in my legs and I crossed the line in 48 : 09, just 53 seconds off a pb.
A quick bottle of water to rehydrate and we headed to the station and on to southsea for lunch and to spend some time watching the bands on the common.
Thinking back on the race I cant really fault it. It was well organised, the course was nice and flat and the support from the other Hedgies was as great as it always is. I ran as well as I could have expected and have possibly laid the foundations for a pb race at the Lordshill 10km in 3 weeks time. Heres hoping …………..
A quick bottle of water to rehydrate and we headed to the station and on to southsea for lunch and to spend some time watching the bands on the common.
Thinking back on the race I cant really fault it. It was well organised, the course was nice and flat and the support from the other Hedgies was as great as it always is. I ran as well as I could have expected and have possibly laid the foundations for a pb race at the Lordshill 10km in 3 weeks time. Heres hoping …………..
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