I entered this more as a training run than a race, and following on from a 2 hour run on Thursday where I pushed it fairly hard I was only really 85% by this afternoon - so that's the excuses got in on to the race.
It looked like a field of a couple of hundred plus, mostly club runners. Heavy rain prior to the start had been replaced by clear skies and from thinking it was going to be cold and wet it turned out quite hot. I was planning to try and stick to steady 6.30s in this - and definitely not go out too fast - some hope.
A slightly chaotic start saw lots of slower towards the front and faster runners towards the back which meant plenty of dodging in and out and running on the grass verge for half a mile up a lane next to the prison. Then it was a sharp left onto the pavement next to the main road and we settled down into the running.
THe first couple of miles were on pavement and the splits came up in 6.10 and 6.09 - I swear I was trying to go slowly and yet again I ended up paying for starting too fast later in the race. Still I felt OK until about 3 miles when I started to feel Thursdays run - not so much in my legs as in my chest.
The next splits came up in 6.37 (not too bad), 6.36 (steady) and 6.51 (!!) and the race was starting to take on the same pattern as the Belvoir half - a fastish start and then fading and getting passed for the rest of the race. At 5 miles a couple of guys came past me and I decided to hang on to them otherwise I was just going to keep slipping. I managed to do it and although the next miles were only 6.48, 6.39 and 6.45 (on a grass track) we overtook the 3 or 4 runners that had gone past me in the first part of the race. Did I feel guilty about slipstreaming them? No, I reckon it is part of racing.
At 7 and a half one of the two made a break (or the other one slipped back) and I decided to go with the man in front. This time I moved up alongside him as it seemed a bit out of order slipstreaming him on his own. We ran together up to about 8 and a half when I decided to push on and ran past opening up maybe a 20 yard lead. Mile 9 went in 6.11. However at about the 9 mile week I was struggling. The guy I had just overtaken came back alongside and past me at about 9 and a quarter and looking back I saw a pack of 3 or 4 (mostly people that had passed me and I'd passed back) about 20 yards back. At this point I thought they were going to get back to me but I told myself this was a race not a training run and put an effort in follow the man in front. I never threatened to pass him back but managed to keep him within 10 yards which was enough to pull us well clear of those behind. This last mile was 7 minutes which when you consider I was trying to push on shows I had had it at this point. Came in 1.05.43 on my watch which was a bit slower than I was hoping for but a pb as it is my first 10 miler.
On reflection I reckon that running this on the back of my two highest mileage weeks and my longest ever run 3 days ago was too much for me. Still I think it was a good training run, not a bad time (for me) and it posts a 10 mile time for the club championship if nothing else.
What about the race? I found 10 miles a nice distance. The course was fairly flat - a bit windy and quite a lot of pavement, a long incline in the last mile and a mile of rough track meaning it is not quite as fast as it might have been. It was well organised, easy parking, toilets, enter on the day (most people seemed to do this), and a nice Prison RUnning Club towel as the momento at the end.
