… I keep a wristwatch on this arm of mine, I keep my flies wide open all the time and I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die

Preston 10 Mile

EXCUSES ALERT! As mentioned, I was working the night before and didn’t really have the best of sleeps. On and off I probably had about 3 hours kip but when I got up the adrenaline took over and I felt fine. The race itself was a two loop course on streets and very flat. Looking at last years results I was confident of getting under the hour and in better circumstances a pb. The race was an early start, 10:00am and it was cold and foggy in Preston. I made a decision to stick to 5:55 miles and if I had anything at the end I’d try to sneak under 59 mins.

There was a good turn out from PLS and with Martin and Keiran running I thought we might be in a shout of the team prize. Trev Morris was on the line and maybe on another day I’d have tried to break my duck and beat him but not today! I set off at 5:55, resisting the temptation to go off fast and Keiran, running his first 10 miler slotted alongside me. We both worked our way through the field, staying around 5:55 pace. After only 4 miles I was out on my own. The group infront with Trev in looked over 20 seconds ahead, I went through 5 miles in 29:35 – Kieran was still close and I’d set my sights on trying to get the group.

Around 6.5 miles I started to drop to 6:05 miles, I didn’t necessarily feel tired but no matter how much I pushed I couldn’t get the pace down. This is where running in a group comes in handy but unfortunately I was too far from the next group so had to grit my teeth and try to wind it up. I got to the long straight that runs parallel to the A59, got my miles mixed up and was gutted when I hit the 8 mile mark because I was convinced it was 9. I caught up to a young lad from the Preston Harriers and with a mile left started to work hard. The last mile or so was a slight decline so I could get some speed up – with a 1.5 miles to go I was around 51 mins so never mind getting under 59, I’d have to pull it out to get under the hour.

I was doing well considering but didn’t catch any other runners and finished with a 5:34 last mile to get a pb of 59:25. Can’t say the lack of sleep affected me too much but it certainly didn’t help! Martin had another great race and finished 9th in 56:33. It was a really strong field, Andi Jones smashed the course record to win it in 49:43. Keiran was just behind me in 59:41 and as suspect we were in with a shout of the team prize.

Turns out we were joint 2nd with Southport and Waterloo on 64 points, Preston Harriers were 1st with 40 but thought they might give us the prize, after all it was there race! I really enjoyed the day, great organization and support and a great atmosphere.