The track festival had the intention of giving road racers a taste of track racing as well as a 10,000 metre PB. Runners had to have a sub-45 minute 10k PB to be eligible and with my 41:13 minute PB is was in the bottom group.
Having stalked some of the runners in my start list on thePowerOfTen website I knew that I was one of the faster runners there and had a chance of winning as my PB is soft.
When the gun went I settled into second place, being pulled along at just under 6:30 pace.
My main goal in this race was to go sub-40 for the first time rather than win the race so after four laps at 6:30 pace I decided I would have to take it on and increase the pace to the required 6:25.
The guy I had overtaken stayed with me for another four laps or so and then dropped back, leaving me in sole first place. This is how it stayed for the rest of the race with me gradually increasing my lead and using my Garmin to keep my pace at 6:25 min/mile.
I went through 5000 metres in just under 20 minutes and from then on it was a case of counting down the laps and trying to maintain the pace.
There was a commentator at the stadium and a stand on the home straight where friends and family were watching. Being in the lead I got quite a lot of mentions by the commentator and lots of support from the stand - all great fun. Someone also took it upon themselves to inform me each lap how far ahead of 40 minutes schedule I was!
With about five laps to go the commentator noted that I was looking tired but I used this to spur me on and maintain the pace. When I finally started the last lap I saw that I had 100 seconds left to go under 40 and knew I would achieve it.
I managed to speed up over the last 400 metres and come home in 39:50 for a win by about a minute.
This was my first race win and will also probably be my last for a long time! If I do the race next year I will probably be in the next group which was won in a time of about 35 minutes!
Overall this was great fun and a pleasant change from road running. Hopefully I will be able to persuade some of my club mates to do it next year and we can have a smack down on the track.
After the race I noticed a lady in the stand who looked like Britain's number one marathoner Susan Partridge. On closer inspection I decided that it really was her and she very graciously allowed me a photo and a chat. A very down-to-earth lady, mixing in with the club runners the day before taking on the East Africans at the Great North Run!
