Headington 10k

"Mostly Harmless" was how the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy describes Earth, and the same can largely be said of the Headington 10k.  Flat and featureless, the race starts and ends at Wormihghall airfield in Buckinghamshire (see map below).  Around 4k is run on the airfield and the rest is on the roads surrounding it.  It's not the most scenic, exciting or challenging, but it was still a good run for a Sunday morning.

There was a good turnout this morning of around 15 Roadrunners, and probably a couple of hundred others. It was not too hot, but  with thunderstorms forecast for later in the day it got gradually more humid, until rain started at about 11 o'clock.

My previous 10k runs at Eynsham, and at Windsor Triathlon were right on the button at 52 minutes, but I have been doing a lot of running over the past few months - mainly slower running with my various newcomers, but also a little speed work at the gym.  At the Oxford Motavation last week I managed 30:40, so on that basis - about 7:40 per mile / 4:50 per km - I was aiming for sub-48 minutes. This would be a significant increase over my previous times, but I guessed I could manage it.

I hit the first, second and third kilometre markers bang on the money at around 5 minutes per mile.  My aim was to stay at this pace, and stay with Jane for the first half of the race, then put in a faster second 5k.  My 5k time was 24:33, but I felt OK. 

At the water station just after 5k, I took on some water and almost by accident sped up a little to pass Jane.  Once past her I thought "might as well keep going", so I tried to keep a stronger pace.   I managed to kick past quite a few people over the next few kms. I had a bit of a 'funny' at around 7k, where I'd convinced myself that I'd already done 8k, and at that point I started to lose track of my time and what I needed to do to hit 48 minutes.

I hit the nine kilometre mark at 43:35 - only 4:25 to go.  I'd been starting to flag a little, but now had to put the hammer down for the last few hundred metres.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I started to hear the finish-line crowd and managed to kick for a final time. 

I almost threw up on the finish line - again (am I doing something wrong here?!) - but was delighted to finish in 47:51.  It shows that the training is paying off - even the slow running must be helping, and hopefully I'll start to catch some of the real ERR runners who can do sub-40 minutes. Perhaps a little way to go before that, though.