Regents Park 10K - March - End of Series

It's finally happened - the Regents Park Winter Series has come to an end and my but what a curates egg! On the plus side I achieved an excellent PB of 37:39 back in November, I've managed to complete every one of the races (six for six!) and on the whole I feel like I've finished strongly. On the other hand since November I've struggled with something in every race, whether injury or illness, and last month my time of 41:12 was perhaps my worst result in a serious 10K since, well, forever. Certainly since I first began running this distance, or any distance, back in 2003. So it's fair to say that I haven't managed to match my aspiration of placing well in the V40 category for the entire series but I'll come back to that.

As usual I turned up early at the Park to fit in my customary warm-up lap and was immediately glad that I'd dressed up warmly (having almost forgotten to do so) - the chilly weather that's pinned London like a cold, dead hand all week remains with us (I almost froze to death in Trafalgar Square on Friday at ). The other motive behind this pattern is that it allows for certain, essential, pit-stops without having to worry about missing the start; I guess that even after all these years I still get a little nervous! Fortunately I bumped into friendly TriLondoners Gordon, Chris, Olivia, Anthony and Lotte (not racing) in the pause before the off and so my mind turned to happier things.

  Given my poor showing in recent months I determined to take the first lap very sensibly this time around and to reassess the situation after 2-3km - which meant seeding myself a good chunk back, next to Anthony, and then having the "pleasure" of watching him shoot off in his typical, fast-starting fashion. Soon enough I'd lost sight of him in the crowd and it was only Lotte shouting to me at around 2.5km that he was 10 seconds in front that gave me something to work with. So when the first lap passed in around 13:10 I figured that I should be able to manage sub-40 and that perhaps it was time to get a move on. Even so it took until the halfway mark to drag myself up to Anthony's group and right then I had to disavow my previous struggle and push on past. Luckily there is a downhill section to the children's playground just beyond this point and I was able to freewheel and recover a bit (a favourite tactic after the uphill that comes immediately before).

  The irritating part was that a fellow runner attached himself to me at this point and from then on we were like each other's shadow. For example on the northern section past London Zoo I put in a hearty effort and, satisfyingly enough, managed to drop him but then he clawed his way back as we came through the start/finish. Then it was my turn to suffer and I was breathing hard as we skirted along the lakes before he really put me to the sword on the hill past St.John's Lodge. It was just too much and at the top I had to drop a few paces back or blow up - but that was enough. He gained no further ground and by the fountain we were once again shoulder to shoulder and doing our level best to bring back the 3 or 4 runners immediately in front.

Down by the playground we turned again and then the pace got a little hot as we rose again towards the zoo - in the final 2km - and I mentally figured that my previous effort to catch up had done for my chances. As it came to the final 1000 metres and that stretch along the zoo edge I still felt at the limit; just about able to hold my own but very much looking for the finish line. Right then, though, with about 800m to go I just decided to lay my cards down and go for it. Surging forward I passed my shadow and then his wing-man before continuing with the suicidal effort. They were broken but I felt like I was going to break up, to fly apart into little pieces at any moment, the effort causing spittle to cascade down my chin as every fibre of my being stretched to the limit. I love this final uphill stretch, it really suits my strengths, but I was just holding it together as I came around the final bend and the final, awful, steps to the finish. This was racing ugly but then what do you expect from a 3:38 final kilometre?

Looking back I'm very pleased that my finish time featured a 38 and a 48 in the right order as it, kind of, makes the effort worthwhile (although it was only good enough for 20th place - again!). That said the series has been anything but consistent as my times demonstrate:

October -  39:14 (20th)
November -37:39 (20th)
December - 38:28 (22nd)
January -39:08 (21st)
February - 41:12 (37th)
March - 38:48 (20th)

I mean what is it about 20th place that's so great? Anyway I continued this trend by being 21st overall in the series rankings with 52 points (enough to give me 5th place, out of 173, in the V40 group - very competitive obviously!). Certainly it's my best result in the series yet and what's more I have the coming up; yes I wangled myself an entry now that these are being held on a Sunday too and I remain optimistic! All I want to do is stop coming twentieth - can that be so hard?

Distance: 11.2 milesSummer Series