Sunday 9 December 2012

Stockport 10

My strategy was going to be just to run this race, not race it, however I tend to get sucked into things and before I knew it I was running at 6:30 min/miles, faster than my target pace of 7 min/miles for the whole race. I planned to keep Charlie in my sights and if I could do so I'd be having a good race. Charlie is a much faster runner than me on the roads. A shock to the system was how well Neil got off at the start of the race, who ploughed ahead both me and Charlie and I didn't see until the later stages of the race. I'm usually a bit faster than Neil at Park Run so I thought I'll catch him later.
I settled into the race and found myself very gradually drawing Charlie in and by mile 5, just at the start of the first ascent I drew level. With a long way to go I was worried that Charlie, being the better road runner, would catch me. I carried on, anticipating Charlie appearing, when at about mile 6, I spotted Neil! Part of me was thinking I needn't worry, that he'd set off to fast and I would catch him. I thought wrong! I did gain ground on him and was about 15 second behind him at the final hill at 8.5 miles, back up to Woodbank Stadium, thinking again I'd catch him, but he held a good pace and couldn't catch him, no matter how hard I tried. I finished the 10 miles in 1:08:30 and Neil finished 13 seconds ahead of me.
I would like to say I'd have caught him if 'd have tried harder, but I put everything in. In fact, I probably wouldn't have gotten the time I did if I'd have not have been trying to chase Neil, so I owe my time partly to him! Massive well done to Neil and everyone else at Glossopdale Harrier in the Stockport 10.
It was a great race, well organised, got a nice technical top and a brilliant goody bag!
(The good bag contailed: A ruler, a £5 sweatshop voucher, an Oxo cube, a lollypop, a kitkat and a radiator key!)

Results here: http://www.chiptiming.co.uk/pdf/Stockport10.pdf
I was 117th out of 748.

I'm wondering if aiming for a sub60 10 mile for next year is out of my reach. I really need to drop a stone and train hard!

3 comments:

  1. cheers mate. It should be interesting next time we race

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    1. But who's going to be the champ? Its very close.

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    2. Just need to beat Charlie &/or his 20:01 at Woodbank Park Run and I'll have snatched it off him!

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