Sunday 7th October: 10k Race

Race Report:

The weather was perfect, no wind and the air temperature was warm. I was excited as it was the national championships and there would be a stella field. I knew the top boys would be well in front but also knew the quality of the field would be good enough to pull me round to a good time. Unfortunately my race was ruined by a ridiculous situation at the start and I knew all chances of a big personal best were gone in the first kilometre...

As the field contain over 1000 runners the officials decided to move the faster runners to a different start to enable them to get away cleanly. Due to a mix up with where the faster runners had to congregate I found myself towards the back of the group, but as there were only 50 to 100 runners I was not too bothered as I knew they would get away quickly and I could get to my pace after a few seconds. However we were funnelled down from a dual carriage way to a single carriage as we started which slowed me down. Then after 20 metres the masses joined as from a 90 degree angle and all hell let loose. It was like a stampede. One of the top female runners in the country was tripped and smashed her hand and knee on a flying barrier knocked over by the joining runners. She was a couple of metres ahead and because there was suddenly a barrier with an athlete slumped on top it caused all the runners in front of me to slow. The runners to my right away from the accident streamed past as did the masses to my left. By the time I got running I was in about 400th place with a sea of runners ahead.

Between 3 and 4k I had finally cleared most of the runners, and by 5k I had reached the back of a group that were travelling at a good pace. I sat in with them and tried to recover the energy I had expended weaving in and out of the field trying to catch up to where I should be. I had tried to control my pace as I carved through the field but I knew giving everyone a 400meter headstart was not what I wanted. I stayed with the group till the finish and felt strong and controlled during the second half of the race. I finished 10 seconds off my pb time and was left with mixed emotions. On one hand I had run well and close to my best after such a bad start, but was left wondering what might have been if I hadn't been held up, if I'd not had to expend extra energy weaving through the field and if I'd been further up the field working with a faster group who would have helped pull me round to a big pb. Its really stoked a fire in my belly to show what I can do in the half marathon next weekend which is my main goal, but its always nice to break your pb. But there is always next time!!