Not sure how the duathlon yesterday would affect me, I lined up with Henry and a few other Ilkley Harriers at the start of the Ribble Valley 10k in Clitheroe. I'd been for a warm up in my Nike race shoes but they feel so un-padded and lightweight that a slightly niggle calf persuaded me to change into normal trainers.
Henry, Mark Iley and I ran the first mile or so together, then Henry started to pull away slightly, so I went with him, deciding to wait and see how I felt. I've finished a few seconds ahead of him a few times this year, but he's been doing track sessions with Ilkley at Carnegie and posting some scarily quick reps on his blog. Several times he seemed to be pulling away, then I'm not sure whether he slowed a bit or I speeded up, but we ended up together again.
Just after the 2m point the route goes sharp left and I glanced back to see Mark had dropped back by maybe 50m or so - just me and Henry now then...
At the 5k point the watch showed 18:45, so not quick enough for the sub-37 I've got on my shopping list, but a possible PB on what I still maintain isn't the quickest course (although it invariably produces some fast times).
We ran together until at about 8km I thought I'd maybe gained a decisive lead, but soon enough I could see Henry's red t-shirt to my right, and at 9km he started to pull away again. This was one of those points in a race where you can think "oh bugger it" and let the other guy go, but I decided it's only 2 1/2 laps of the track and less than 4 mins to go so I'd stick with it.
The route goes down to cross the river with maybe 400m to go, and unlike me normally I pressed on as we went downhill instead of allowing inner-cyclist to make me take a rest! I kept the effort up on the other side and then just held on for grim death to the finish. I actually passed a young lad in the colours of Lancaster & Morecambe just before the line, so finished 124th in a new PB of 37:14. Henry was just 5 seconds behind with 37:19, which will, I think, get him in the official UK M50 rankings for 2009!
That's it for fast 10ks now - I'll do Garstang in January just because I always do, and because it means I can have lunch with Rick, my brother, to continue plotting our Mallorca Sportive trip in April. After that it's long runs and half marathons right until April 11th...
Thanks again for pushing me on to a time that was much faster than expected today. It's only about 8 or 9 months since you just beat me in Bradford when we were both nearly 2 1/2 minutes slower than today for 10k....that's quite a big improvement.
ReplyDeleteGreat pleasure, Henry - as I said above I was about to throw in the towel at 9km when you overtook me AGAIN! Mara training for me for a few months (plus a few bike sessions and the odd half) before I have another go at doing the old 10k PB some more damage at Rothwell!
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