I finally made it to the start of this one, I always enter it and never run it.

I always want a PB and was confident I could run one, but I wanted to smash it.  It rained all day but just about cleared up for the race.  I was feeling good and did a 2 mile warm up.

I started too fast trying to run a minute PB, unfortunately on the night I could not sustain the pace, and I did not finish as strong as I like to.  I could not really pick up the pace down Abbes Walk (well I did but running a 5:41 minute mile down a hill is not really good enough).

I finished in 35:50 in 13th place, this was my second fastest 10k ever and given I have put all my training in to the Marathon I am pleased with it (honest).  The last time I ran this race I finished in 42nd place with a time of 38:18.  Bring on the sub 35 soon please 🙂

Doncaster AC was well represented and the men just missed out on the team prize, Nicola Devine was second lady to finish just behind 1st.

Next race is this weekend, assuming I PB at it that will be a PB at every road distance in the last 6 months

Tune from the 90’s, cracking hard fast trance, love the 4:20 bit more than ever!

This was a difficult week, I paced a competitor on the Hardmoors 200 ultra race Steve Davies.  A group of us organised by Eddie and Dawn Fletcher did stages with Steve and I had a 25 mile stretch to cover Saturday night.  Due to illness Steve was unable to run by the time I took over, but he was still able to cover the 200 miles in 59 hours with no sleep, on some of the most brutal terrain I have seen.  Conditions were not great overnight with some fog and icy wind.  I was with Steve for around 11 hours, starting at around midnight and finishing at around 11 am Sunday morning.

All the route I paced on was as per the photograph on the right, very hilly and exposed.

South Yorkshire Road League – Penistone 10 May 2017

Photo by Mark Havahand

I felt tired all day and thought I had an upset stomach, not really feeling up for the race.  I had to beat Alan Ford by about 33 seconds to finish 1st Vet 40, I could not do it tonight, well done Alan.  I finished 2nd V40 with a time of 30:12.  Basically the first 3 miles were up hill.  My splits were 5:36, 6:22, 6:56, 5:29 and 5:40.

Its always tough to get a team out for the 4 races, well done to our ladies finished 4th out of 13 teams.  Our Vet Men showed strength and depth finishing 1st by 23 minutes (out of 12 teams).

Individual Prizes – Best Results for many years for Doncaster AC

Once again, Nicola Devine showed her running ability winning the senior ladies (and overall) league.  Brilliant running Nicola who has competed in 26 races so far this year!

Rose James was 3rd V35 lady.  Martin James was 2nd V40 man.  Peter Badger was 3rd V40 Man.  Mo Rodwell was 3rd V50 man.  Pete Wade was 3rd V55 man.  Kevin Newman was 1st V60 Man.  Phil Bussey was 1st V60 Man.  Brilliant effort all.

Parkrun 13 May 2017

Unfortunately it was quite windy so my time was a bit down on what I had hoped for.  My splits were 5:49, 6:07 and 6:06 giving me a time of 18:02.  Good tempo run though on a tough course.

My club, Doncaster AC hosted this one and the course was redesigned by me to make it safer.  The course was great and many thanks to all that helped out as always, your a great team.  Many thanks to Janet for looking after the kids again, allowing me and Rose to race.

After the London Marathon a lot of people probably thought it was not sensible to race so soon.  I had Monday off running.  Tuesday I did a club run, about 5 miles at 7:30 pace, felt ok (was glad to bin the track session).

Got to the start on Wednesday, did a 2 minute warm up and felt quite tired, started a few rows back.

My mile splits were 5:45, 5:49, 5:56, 5:44 and 5:55 with a finish time of around 29:21, my second fastest 5 mile (NAD) race ever (6ish seconds off my PB).  The garmin gave 5:03 miles.  The race was hilly but easier than the first 2, and it was an uphill race, the finish being higher than the start.

As I am now a V40 runner (41) I am a counter for our clubs vet team and we are doing amazing, currently winning with a time of 364:49.  Second place is 380:46.  If we were a senior team we would be in 4th place.

I am second V40 after 3 races, I have to make up just over 30 seconds in the last race to take first.  My competitor for first place, Alan Ford ran an amazing race considering he also ran London Marathon.

I have got lots more racing coming up in the next few weeks where I hope to keep hitting PB’s.  Race often and good things happen!  This is how I monitor my progress, these stats don’t allow any BS: