I had no idea what to expect today. My parkrun on Saturday had been sluggish and I had done a 19 mile day three days ago. On the other hand my legs had felt pretty good yesterday and the conditions today were perfect for racing.
The course is fast if not particularly scenic. Two 5K laps around a nondescript area of Salford. The route is flat though and all on roads / pavements which would make a nice change from cross country races and muddy parkruns.
As normal I started rather too far back in the field and spent much of the first mile working through the pack. I soon locked in to a hard but sustainable effort and was pleased to see an average pace of 6:00. It never ceases to amaze me how much easier this pace feels in a race compared to training.
For the rest of the first lap I gradually worked through the field and maintained the pace, going through 5K in 18:45. With a PB of 38:03 I knew if I could avoid a disaster in the second half I was on for a PB.
The fourth mile was slightly uphill and this came out as a slightly slower mile at 6:04. However I was still feeling strong and managed to clock off another 6:00 mile in the easier fifth mile. Just one mile and a bit to go and the PB would be mine.
I can normally manage a strong last mile and a sprint finish but I didn't seem to have that in the tank today. Over the last kilometre or so a few runners came past me but I managed to hold things together for a 6:05 final mile and then 6:09 pace over the slightly uphill last 400 metres. 37:43 is a 20s PB.
In one sense 20 seconds is not much for the amount of training I have done in the last year but I will take it. I would like to think that if I targeted a 10K seriously I could get quite a few more seconds off that time. I definitely felt strong today but didn't have much bounce or zip in the legs. Hopefully that will be there in just over three weeks time.
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