First 10k of the year

I can't believe we have made it to the middle of May and prior to today I hadn't raced a single 10k all year!

Ribble Valley was my last outing over the distance back in late December. Although I had meant to have been doing various races before now, for one reason or another it just never happened.

Today I started to put that right. A combination of wanting to get out of Moll's hair whilst she revised for Monday's exam, feeling fresh after Thursday's interclub and the fact that the race had been added to Wesham's club championship, saw me venture off to Leyland to do the Worden Park 10k.

I last did this race back in 2013, when I finished second place in 35:34. It isn't the easiest of courses, is undulating throughout, with quite a tough hill at the end of each of the two laps. Unfortunately the wind hadn't dropped any from Thursday either, so conditions didn't exactly help for fast times.

There was some good competition on the start line today, so I knew that I would have to be switched on and "on it" from the off, with Matt Thompson (who I am still to beat at crosscountry!) club mate James Mulvany and young Joe Monk all very good standard runners.

Joe ran practically the same time today as I did two years ago, it is obvious that he is going to be a high class athlete in a couple of years time. If I had any advice for him, it would just be to stay patient and keep working hard - I remember what it was like to be the youngest at races and trying to close that gap to be winning races. He will do it sooner or later, but hopefully when he does I will have continued to develop myself and can keep up with him!

As we set off on a downhill start, it was actually Joe that was really the only one to pull away with me in the early stages, I think I dropped him after about a quarter of a mile, and from then on in I was on my own. It was just like a re-run of Thursday's interclub all over again, with the knowledge that as long as I didn't do anything daft, the race was already in the bag - but despite the conditions and nature of the course, I really fancied a crack at my PB.

To get that PB would require me to run an average of 5:15 per mile, and my first mile got off to a good start, posting 5:09. The second mile of the course levelled out from the downhill start and then began to add a few gradual inclines and undulations, a check of my watch saw that I had slipped to 5:20 for the mile. The third mile was mainly uphill, and with a tough kick towards the end of the lap. I managed to maintain the same 5:20 pace from the previous mile by digging in a bit more.

So at halfway I found myself about 5 seconds shy of PB pace, but still within touching distance. Mile 4 was a repeat of the first mile of course, and I clocked the exact same time for it as first time around (5:09), meaning that for the first time since the early stages of the race, I was back in the realms of a PB time.

I knew that mile 5 would be tough, as the mental aspect began to get harder, knowing that the race was well won already, I admit that running into that head wind it was tempting to relax a little. I resisted though and pushed on - and ran 5:23 for the mile. I was slightly disappointed to be back behind the required rate, but knew I was still in with a slim chance if I could summon up a big finish.

Sadly, the second time around the big final climb did for me, I chucked everything in to that sixth mile, but clocking 5:24 I knew the game was up.

I did however, still have a shot at the course record (32:47), and I gave it my all in the last stretch into the finishing line. I came up just short again however, finishing in a time of 32:49.

All things considered though, I am delighted with both my performance and application to the race, and it gives me huge confidence moving on to more 10k's through the rest of the year. I will run quicker, but today will have benefited me massively I reckon.

To top it off, Wesham claimed another men's team prize, to round up a fantastic week for the club again!

On we march #teamwesham!!