Stourport (nearly) 10k

Yesterday evening was the first race of the Worcestershire Mid-Week 10km League for invited clubs only. Perhaps its a reflection of the ability of Worcester Joggers to put bodies into local races that we were invited to take part in this series. Should help with our affliation attempts with the MCAA.

Thinking that this was going to be based on the Brambles 10k course, the pair of blue suede shoes went into the kit bag. Of course this was not to be and we were told at sign-on that the course will be "mostly off road". The number of people with Walshes and other off road footwear also provided another clue. The question of what exactly is the route was met with the great reply, "There is only one course map but the head marshall has it to make sure that the marshalls are in the right place". Nevertheless we were reassured that the course is well marked with the usual red and white plastic strips. It was sort of an "out and back" course so the initial and final 1.5miles or so follows the same route.


"Blue suede shoes"

With many of the usual suspects present today in their various club colours, it should be easy to execute my race strategy of following certain individuals for the first part of the race. Hopefully starting slower would avoid a repeat meeting with my good friend the stitch which ruined a recent race. By the end of the first lap round the track I quickly realised that my first two pacemakers were rather slow. A few quick steps and I was past them to be stuck firmly on the back of two other pacemakers just before the route narrowed down leaving the track. These two pacemakers did a good job at maintaining an even pace and eventually I left them on a slight incline to latch on to someone else. This tactic was repeated for several times around the course. Quite useful too as I had no idea which way we had to go.

The hardest bit of the race was definitely "the Gulley" which was as its name suggested a dried up stream. It was soft going underfoot in various places with many uneven hard steps. At the speed (lack of!) I was going up it, I imagined that people behind me would overtake me left right and centre but strangely this never happened, but neither did I close the large gap to the runner in front. From there on it was mostly downhill all the way to the finish with about a lap clockwise round the track, keeping an eye on the group behind me to make sure that I didn't get caught. My finishing time of 37'20" (20th place) was clearly not due to my superb fitness but rather a somewhat short course.

With the benefit of hindsight I should have attacked a bit more on the hills especially as many other sections were narrow with little chance of overtaking. Knowing the course would be useful to know how much to push at various places. Off road shoes were not a requirement because the surface was reasonable dry. Felt fairly good throughout the race, perhaps an indication that I wasn't going at 100% effort so there might just be some sort of form hiding somewhere in my legs. Being a bit disorganised and currently subscribing to the "organic" approach to running, I did not use my HRM during the race so I'm unable to check my HR to prove this. Next race is probably this coming Sunday at the LRF 10k in Bromsgrove (Note it starts at 11am, not 9am as the website says!).

Location 52°N 2°W