The Arley Hall 10k was my third race in less than 14 days and with a great few weeks of training behing me I was confident of pushing on from last weeks relays and getitng a decent low to mid 35 mins. Unfortunately I felt ropey on the Friday and after a sleepless night with stomach cramps I spent the entire Saturday on the couch feeling aches and pains all over. There's a few bad 48 bugs going around and I was concerned this had struck me.

I really didn't fancy racing but James was still up for it so I thought I give it a go. On the Sunday I felt fine and the warm up etc. went as per normal. I still planned to ease my way into the race but after 1km I suspected I wasn't going to get a low 35's. Indeed after 2 miles I was flagging but still hung in and thought if I could get ot 5k in 18 I might get a 2nd wind. Russell Ingham who I train with in work was on my shoulder and he pulled away before the 5k mark, he didn't speed up - I was was just slowing down!

I managed to cling on to 18 mins for the 5k but really wasn't enjoying grinding it out. I could still see Russell but was pretty much alone until a group of runners caught me with about 2k to go. I tried to stay with them and then dug in again with 1k left crossing the line in 36.20 - the course was a good 150m short which added to the disappointment!

I'm always telling other runners to take the positives from racing and training, try not to consume yourself with the negatives as it doesn't serve you in anyway. I know my training is on the right track and the goal is still to get under 77 for Wirral. I really did have to dig in to get my 36.20 at the weekend which was a positive. I'm doing a 10 mile this Sunday but again wont ease up for this race and as long as other factors don't get in the way I should be in good enough shape to have a crack at my current PB.