Rob's Running Blog

Birchwood 10k Road Race – 52m 49s PB!

This was my fourth race, and like the last one it was a fair distance to travel, although this time I was using a combination of bus and train!

I got up early and set off after forcing some breakfast down. It was a really cold morning (surprisingly cold for August – I could swear the cars along a road I walked actually had ice on the windows) although the sun was out. I got to Oxford Road Station in plenty of time and hopped on the Liverpool bound train (although had a dodgy moment when the doors wouldn’t open and everyone was wondering what was going on!), then got off at Birchwood. By now it was raining and looking pretty overcast and miserable – awful for hanging around in, but I figured it would be good for running in! I could already see a few runners warming up, including one or two faces I was sure I’d seen before at recent races!

I had a wander round and went in the Birchwood shopping centre to try to keep warm, before spotting a Marshall and finding out where the start line was. I started warming up with a little jog and some stretches then made a last trip to the loo before assembly at the start. I tried not to get too near the front, there were quite a lot of runners, I think I was about half way back from the front. Being a fledgling, I find it quite psychologically damaging during a race if loads of people are going past me. Just makes me feel slow, so I tend to quicken up when I shouldn’t – and early on that can cripple me for the later sections of the race!

Anyway the horn went, and everyone surged forward – then stopped – then started again! I don’t know what that was about, really! But then I was off, and the amount of people around meant I was forced to start of pretty damn slowly – but that was a good thing for me! I took it really easy up to about 3k, but was still overtaking people, and getting overtaken by one or two, until everyone was evened out into their own pace and race. I felt far too comfortable at 3k, so accelerated and started overtaking people – I felt really good, although at the back of my mind wondered if I was going off too quickly. Still, I felt good, and checked the Garmin at 5k and saw I had done the first 5k in just under 25 minutes. I thought I was going way too fast, as that was going to hurt later on, as I was already starting to feel it – so I went into a gentler pace for a couple of k, tucking in behind two runners who seemed to be going at a nice gentle pace, and forcing myself not to overtake them – but once I had recovered I sped up once again, and other people were going quicker now too – then at about 7 or 8k there was this pretty steep hill. I remembered thinking about the hill I run up in training, it was nowhere near that bad, and I was already going, so I pushed on up the hill and must have taken 20 people there, a woman was making quite a noise, so I turned and asked her if she was OK before I sped on (she said she was) – talk about role reversal from my last race where I was the one wincing! I managed to keep going, although the hill did take it out of my lungs a bit – and then a bit later on there was another hill! I kept going though, playing cat and mouse with this guy in joggers – I had overtaken him way back, only for him to overtake me, then vice versa (although he beat me in the end!). I was hurting a bit by the 9k mark but not suffering too badly so I just tried to give as much as I could as I knew the end was in sight, and hopefully a PB, when I saw the finish arch I just went as fast as I could, for the first time I had a tiny bit left for a sprint finish and didn’t slow down until I was over the line! I stopped my Garmin and had done 52:50 – almost 2 minutes quicker than my previous race PB, and my Garmin had clocked an extra 100 metres with all the weaving and turns. My official time ended up being 52:49

This race, put on by Spectrum Striders Running Club was very friendly and extremely well organised – especially bearing in mind it was run on roads which weren’t fully closed off – they marshalls etc did a

fantastic job of keeping the runners and the traffic moving 🙂 At the end there were children holding out flowers, but I didn’t know if they were meant for me! However I did appreciate the luxury bath towel I was given – it was bloody useful for keeping a bit warmer, as I had to wrap it round me on the way home – now it will take pride of place in my bathroom! As usual I went to the finish line and clapped in all the others still running – I will always do this when I can (although will keep a better eye on the clock next time as I missed the 11:49 train and had to wait for for 12:37 back to Manchester!)

Although only my fourth race, the experience of the first three helped a lot – I was much better able to switch gears, alternating between full race pace and cruise pace, and also felt much more aware of how I felt and knew when I was able to give more or was giving too much – and also managed to set off more gently to warm up better for the later stages instead of being spent! All in all very pleased – now I am going to put the work in to get that sub 50 🙂