Lichfield 10k race - the result

After much whinging about injuries (much of which was on this blog) we both ran the Lichfield 10k race on Sunday.

I left it until the eleventh hour to make the decision if I was going to race or not as I had a painful shin injury that had been playing up all week.

In the end the temptation of racing against 1,000 other runners was too much and both Hannah and I were on the start line at 10.30am.

And it was all worth it as we both recorded personal best times. Hannah knocked a startling 4 mins and 51 seconds off her pb finishing in a time of 57min 14 sec.

I finished in 51 min 10 sec - 2 minutes and 11 seconds faster than my last pb.

Full results can be found here

But I'm now finding out that there is a lot more to running then going as fast as you can. I was aiming for a negative split this time round whcih meant I would run the second half of the race slightly faster than the first.

This sounds easy but I found it tough. I was running too quickly for the first 3km and had to concentrate on slowing myself down to my planned target time of 26 minutes for 5km.

My plan was then to do a 24 minute second 5km and finish in under 50 minutes. But I didn't take into account the big hills at 5km and 7km which left me needing to do my last 3km in 14 minutes - much quicker than I am capable at the moment.

But it was a real test of what I had left in the tank near the end of the race. I picked the pace up considerably for the last 3km, over-taking about a dozen runners as I closed in on my 50 minute target time. At one stage I even thought i was going to make it.

Then my heart sank. "Just 400m to go" the sign read. And the rest was up hill all the way to the finish line. Gutted.

So, a few tips for anyone wanting to learn from the experience of someone whose career running totals two races.

1. In the weeks leading up to the race, time how quickly you are running and work out a race-pace for the big day. This will really help keep you going during the tough middle section of the race.
2. Try planning a negative split where your second half of the race is slightly faster than the first.
3. Don't be put off by people over-taking you at the start of the race - chances are you will catch them up later if you stick to your own rhythm.
4. Set yourself personal goals in the race. Try picking someone out who is in front of you and aim to catch them up within the next 1,000 metres/ 5 minutes.
5. Relax and enjoy it