… it generates a warmth around the ground that augurs well for mankind…and that’s what life’s about

Sneaked under 10 last night at Trafford with a mixture of good tactics and determination! The plan was to push for 78 second laps as far as I could. From a laymans point of view, 1 or 2 seconds per 400 metres might seem like nothing but when you analyse it, travelling at that pace equates to over 5 metres per second. Get a few seconds out and you don’t need to a mathematician to realise you’ve a proverbial mountain to climb.

So, in short races like this, it essential to get it right early on, even from the 1st 200 metres – get caught up, like I did in the previous race and ran the 44 seconds and was way off target straight away! With this fresh in my mind, I hit the 1st 200 in 40 and carried on pushing until at around 5:16 through 1600m – 4 seconds in the bag. I was on my own for the majority of the race and there was a wind in home straight but this didn’t really hamper me. I kinda lost track of my times for the next few laps but once I got to 2400m I was on 8:07. So, even though I was starved of oxygen by then, a quick calculation in my head and I knew I had to run the last 600m in 1:52 to get under 10 mins.

I started to wind it up as best I could, going through the next 200 in 38 secs – 8:45 on the bell – 1 minute and 14 seconds for a sub 10. I was also cheered along by Ben Johnson who won the Southport 10k at the weekend, nice of him to give me a shout, plus luckily for me, a lad who was 4th slowed and really gave me a target to chase – I caught him with 250 to go then once I hit 200 I really opened up. The home stretch was full of other runners who I was by now lapping and even though the wind was blowing I felt good sprinting ot the line. I could have sworn I crossed quicker than the 9:58 given but I wasn’t bothered, sub 10 achieved! I belted out a profanity after crossing the line which amused the young athletes waiting for their respective events, hopefully I didn’t upset any parents!

Degsy Fraser was on hand to capture the event with his camera. Degs is the hurdles coach at Trafford and a work colleague who was been instrumental in getting me into running. He got me running at Trafford in 2008 when I didn’t have a clue (I still don’t really!) and always had good words of encouragement whenever I took part in these race. So Degs, this one’s for you ? - cheers for all your help!