It was the second race in the Catforth Canter 5k trilogy, and it was set in much the same conditions as the first. That is bright, hot sunshine, with very little wind - pretty much perfect conditions.
Pulling in to the car park, I spotted Rob Webb of Rossendale, who was on the Lancashire cross country team in the Intercounties, so I knew that I would be in for a challenge and a good race. Rob also narrowly beat me at the Green Drive 5 last year and we have had quite a few good battles in the past.
I managed to grab a word with him before I started my warm up and as I thought, it confirmed that we would both be looking to run similarly, in order to run in and around 15:30. It was good to know that I wouldn't be having to run the race alone as I had done the previous month at the first race of the series.
Having Rob Webb there made it easier for me to judge the pace of the first mile, and we settled nicely into a rhythm that was maintainable - in contrast to the 4:40 pace I set off in last time out!
In this first mile, as the pace was more sensible, others were able to stay in and among us at the front end, and as we approached the first mile marker there were four of us packing nicely at 4:55 pace. The other two in the group being fellow plasterer(!) Raymond Edgar of Lancaster, and young Joe Monk of Blackburn.
I think we all benefited from being able to form a group at a fast, but steady pace. Edgar eventually finished second and narrowly missed out on a pb by just one second (25:40), whilst Monk followed up from his pb last time out by shaving another 3 seconds off his time (16:12) - well done Joe! In his first 5k outing of 2015 Webb ran a fast 15:42 for third place, within 10 seconds of his own pb.
This all just goes to show the power of packing, and despite the fact that we are all ultimately individuals racing against each other, by running it together and sharing the workload it is easier to run quick times.
As it turned out, I found myself pulling away from the others, as I maintained my first mile pace well through mile two. Despite the second mile being on a gradual climb, I clocked 4:57 for it and felt good going into the final mile - the difference between equal pacing here and the madness of last time out was unbelievable.
In the third and final mile, I dropped slightly off 5 minute miling as I was now out in front and perhaps if I had been harder pushed to the finish I might have snuck in a few seconds quicker. However 5:02, followed up by a big sprint finish just wasn't enough for me to record a personal best this time out.
It was though enough to set a new course record of 15:26, shaving four seconds off the previous best set 12 months ago by Stuart Robinson.
A good way to leave off before my holiday next week - I'm packing my trainers though of course! But it is a well needed break and I can't wait to spend time in the sun with Moll and recharge the batteries.
Thank you all that have followed my running diary so far, I look forward to updating you again when I return from Malta! :)
Rob
