My pb time of 32:39, set at City of Salford 10k last September was an accurate reflection of the standard I was at in 2014. However I felt that having improved across every other distance by quite large chunks so far this calendar year, I was confident that I was now more than capable of a sub 32 minute 10k.
I am sure you will all be more than aware of my previous attempts to run at Trafford and Salford having been scuppered earlier this year. As a result, I had found myself having only done one race over the distance in the whole of 2015. That one being Worden Park, a tough undulating course which I didn't have enough high quality competition. Yet I ran within 10 seconds of my pb there, so I knew that I was in shape to take a hefty chunk off when I did finally find the right course and level of opposition.
A few months ago I competed in a new 5k event in Nelson, called 'Podium 5k' it had a great standard of opposition and as such it forced a higher level of performance out of me too - seeing me better my previous time by 16 seconds.
Shortly afterwards, I heard about the possibility of them putting on a 10k version of the race. When the plans were confirmed, I immediately put my name down, and ever since then I have been working hard towards making sure I was in the perfect condition to do myself justice in the race.
Last night, that race finally came round. 10 laps of a cycle track, the course is pan flat - the flattest you will find anywhere - and with a fantastic standard of athletes participating, everything was in place for me to finally nail a time that I could be happy with.
The race was won by Ben Fish in 30:15, with Dave Rigby second in a new pb of 30:35. Third place recorded approximately 31 minutes flat and my coach Rob Affleck smashed his own pb by running about 31:08 - his previous best being 31:54! Having given him a lift to the race, it's fair to say it was a good atmosphere on the drive home!
Myself? Well I had targeted taking at least a minute off my best time, and ideally wanted to give myself a shot at breaking the 31 and a half minute barrier. Driven on by the high class field, and encouraged by a good and vocal support, I managed to demolish my previous best by running 31:15 - knocking some 84 seconds off my time recorded at Salford and being good enough for 5th place. That in itself was amazing for me, as it meant I beat some outstanding athletes- including Jason Cherriman, who ran 2 hours and 22 minutes at the London marathon this year, and whose blog I have been following closely in his build up to an attempt at 2:20 at Berlin this September.
The course, and competition was fantastic, and the conditions could have been a lot worse - although there was a nasty head wind down the final straight, which of course we had to run into ten times. But overall, the setting couldn't have been much better for a pb attempt.
I would like to commend Chris Barnes and his team for putting on such a successful event. I am sure the Podium series will continue to grow and flourish as more runners become aware of it, and the promise of quick times and an atmosphere that allows athletes to perform to the best of their ability.
He only blot on my performance last night would probably be a poor fourth mile, which saw me run a 5:18 and drop some 7-8 seconds behind Affleck and the runner that finished third, as for the first three miles we had packed well, but once I dropped behind them, I was never able to close the gap back up again.
This performance has been a massive relief for me though and a boost to my confidence that I am able to compete at this standard of competition. I am already starting to turn my attentions to targeting an attempt at sub 31 now!
But that can wait a while, as I let the new pb settle in. It's a great feeling!
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