Getting the job done.

Tonight saw the second Interclub fixture of the 2015 season.

It was the turn of Lytham Road Runners to play host, and so that meant a 5 mile race. The course, as usual, taking in the promenade and Fairhaven Lake in St Anne's.

In the build up to this race, I didn't really know what to expect, but had hoped to keep myself in with a shout of the individual title having won the first fixture at Blackpool last month. However, little over two weeks recovery from the marathon meant that this was far from a by-gone conclusion.

My chances were aided though by the decision of many of the top Preston Harriers runners not to partake in the race. The men's Masters Relays is this coming weekend, so the chance of a medal meant that Rob Affleck, Gethin Butler, Gary Pennington, Jason Parker and a couple of others took the decision to rest up instead.

Furthermore, with track races over the weekend to focus on Dave Rigby and Chris Tulley also opted out and instead did a training run along the front.

So, on the start line I knew that I would have a good chance of building on my opening win, and was probably favourite to make it two in two. But that doesn't mean it was a foregone conclusion, I still had to go out and put in a shift and good performance to be sure of the point and to help lead the team to hopefully a good finish too.

As we set off, I quickly moved to the front and decided to attack the race fairly hard from the off, in order to try and set my marker and see who would break away with me from the rest. It soon became apparent though that I was in fact opening up a rather big gap behind already.

I clocked a decent 5:06 for the first mile and was told just before the mile marker by Sue Samme that I had a "50 metre lead", I tried not to take my foot off the gas and ploughed on in mile 2. This one was all in to a big wind though and naturally my time was effected by the conditions as a result - therefore I am rather pleased with 5:20 for the second mile, as I moved further away from those chasing behind.

Chris and Dave had run past me in the other direction and urged me to relax a little as I was well clear, but in my mind I still wanted to have a go at running a good time, even if I was running alone.

At the half way point of the race, you come around the lake and return to the main road heading back in the direction of the promenade from which you first set off. At this stage I allowed myself a little look over my shoulder to see just how much of a gap I had, and was delighted to see my Wesham team mate Karl Lee in second place!

The third mile had seen the pace drop as possibly I had slackened off a bit, and as a result I went through the mile in 5:26, at this point the PB looking out of reach.

With the wind behind me on the way back though, I managed to find a few seconds again in mile 4, clocking 5:14, and again being urged by Tulley to relax and conserve energy with the race won. The truth is though, that I genuinely didn't feel as though I was pushing it - I definitely had some in the tank - which is good because I want to race again this weekend!

I enjoyed myself in the final mile, and knowing that the sub 26' wasn't going to be on, I had a bit of fun and enjoyed the moment instead, playing up to the camera for David Wood and waving to my mum and dad in the home straight. It felt good to claim the win - even if some of the bigger hitters were absent.

Despite all this, looking back at my time, I finished in 26:19 - or 5:16 pace on average, which means if I had maintained what felt like a comfortable pace for another 1.2 miles I would actually have equalled my quickest time for 10k!

So that makes it two in two for the season, and 3 back to back interclub wins if we include last years result - something to motivate me and look to build on at Preston in a few weeks time.

Also, Karl held out for second place - his best interclub placing, and I think - although not yet confirmed - Wesham even claimed the team victory on the night!

A fantastic night for team Wesham!!