So what happens when the first 2k of a 10k race is very downhill? Well, for me it meant starting too fast and carrying on with the excess effort even after the course had levelled out. The initial consequence of this was to start feeling tired at 4k, which is not a welcome sensation that early in a 10k race. I'd jogged around the route in training, so can’t even say the gradient came as a surprise. I guess that at race pace, gravity and adrenalin are powerful forces!
Oh God - I'm going too fast!
Notwithstanding my over-enthusiastic first 3k, it really was like two very different 5k races back-to-back. I clocked the first 5k in 17:40 – just two secs slower than my 5k PB! Thanks to 4/5ths of the second 5k being uphill and getting payback for my fast start, the second 5k was done in 18:59.
The good news was that I was very far from being alone in making an ill-judged start, looking at the way the race unfolded and from talking to people afterwards. I think I only lost 1 place in the second half of the race. I was really suffering between km5-8 and having some stern internal dialogue to keep going. 4 people did overtake me in this section, but I managed to pass 3 of them in the final km - two of them in the final 100m.
Dig in - only 2k to go...Considering how much I slowed between km5-9 (as much due to fatigue as the gradient), I was quite happy to post
36:39 and
19th place – my 2nd best ever 10k time and my best ever MWL finishing position by a long way. From a team perspective, NHRR performed brilliantly to be 3rd overall after the first race (Men 3rd, Ladies 2nd). There was a great NHRR turnout – both runners and supporters.
| Pos | OVERALL | | | | Score | Points |
|---|
| 1 | Garden City Runners | | | | 290 | 12 |
| 2 | St Albans Striders | | | | 381 | 9 |
| 3 | North Herts Road Runners | | | | 563 | 9 |
| 4 | Fairlands Valley Spartans | | | | 731 | 5 |
| 5 | Barnet & District | | | | 1,009 | 4 |
| 6 | Orion Harriers | | | | 1,233 | 3 |
Apart from a couple of very tight turns, this was a pretty good course, though I think I’d rather have 4k uphill in the first, rather than 2nd half of a 10k. Next time, I will be letting gravity, rather than my body, do more of the work in the first few km! In any event, I'd like to thank FVS for taking the trouble to get the course officially certified as an accurate 10k race with SEAA.
I have fond memories of this course as it was my first ever run in a Club vest in May 2007. I also beat my PB by about 75s, although I do recall the mighty Sir Dave Frampton storming past me at 8k!
