Hello fellow runners!
Just over a year after I puffed and wheezed my way to my first ever 10k distance run, I competed in my second organised 10k event on Sunday.
The annual Silsoe Stride takes place on tracks and farmland around the Wrest Park estate. There are 5k and 10k events and several children's races. There was a good turnout and a friendly atmosphere on this warm but breezy Sunday morning.
After registration, we were given a warm-up session and then the 10k race started. As usual, I had placed myself in the middle of the group, so it took a while to cross the start line after the clock had started, but we were all soon bounding across the fields opposite Wrest Park house before turning and heading onto a very uneven farm track. The 1km marker soon came up and there was a brief smooth tarmac section, albeit uphill, before being directed onto the edge of a ploughed field where it quickly became obvious that I was going to have to be very careful not to trip or roll an ankle.
As with my first event, I followed the advice of our running coach at work and looked for someone to tag onto. The first guy I ran with seemed to slow at the 3k marker, so despite there being quite a gap to the next group of runners I decided to gently ease past him. I slowly gained on 2 more runners and caught them up on a steep hill just before the water station at 4.5k. We ran together through the woods, being extra careful not to trip on exposed tree roots and ruts in the track. The 3 of us soon caught up with and passed a younger runner who seemed to be having issues. As we finally emerged from the woods, one of our group started to drop back, leaving me and the other guy running alongside each other, making the odd observation and offering a few words of encouragement to each other as we again joined an uneven farm track and then another track alongside a ploughed field.
The 9k marker saw us running through a carpark on a small business park and we both sped up. We turned onto the final stretch which was again across the fields opposite Wrest Park house and could see the finish line in the distance. That last 900m was very hard work, with my co-runner deciding that he was going to go for it. I kept up with him right up to the very last few metres, where he managed to find something extra and just beat me to the line (by 0.02 seconds according to the race results). He turned and shook hands with me saying that I had kept him going from about the 7k marker, which was nice to hear.
I was over the moon to find that I had finished in 12th place overall and 3rd in my age group (M50) with a race time of 47:29 and chip time of 47:18. My chip time was faster than the 10th place runner, so I must have faith in myself and try to start nearer the front next time!!
My first 10K. What a fantastic day!
My First 10k race
First 10K Event
10k in Snow, rain and wind
Finally did it, a year later
