Sunday 9 February 2014

Moreton Mad Dash 10k

The second leg of my #2014_10kChallenge took place yesterday at the the Moreton Morrell Mad Dash 10k held at the college in Moreton and ran in the country lanes of Warwickshire.

The event was well organised and had a good turnout of around 250 runners.  It was a bright morning after a night of rain, but there was a bitterly cold wind.

The race started in the grounds of the college so was traffic free for the first kilometer, good job really as the driveway out of the college was full of potholes and deep puddles, runners were all over the place trying to keep their feet dry.  Out of the college onto the road into the village of Moreton Morrell and we were going downhill with a tailwind, needless to say the first 2k was quick.  In fact the first 5k was quick (for me) and completed in around 21 mins, if I kept this up a PB was on the cards! 

Reality is though I'm nowhere near PB form yet and if the first 5k was mostly downhill with a tailwind it didn't take much working out what the next 5k would be like.  At 6k the first up hill stretch into the wind came, it was tough but I was ready for it and it didn't slow me down too much.  The next 2k was rolling terrain mostly into the wind and I was saving myself for the final kilometer which I knew had a step climb back up to the college.

I was still going well though by my standards and was still below 9 min pace per mile for the first 5 miles, something I've not managed since return to running.  Then we entered the college grounds, I had an idea of what was coming.... it didn't disappoint. Shortly after the 9k marker we swung left and there it was, the sting in the tail. At least 500 meters up hill.  It certainly slowed me down, but I was not going to stop or walk, I may not have been running up it but at least I was jogging.  And to be fair to most others they shared my determination not to stop.  It did beat quite a few though, it was tough to take at that stage of the race.  The last 250 meters on the flat were a welcome relief as the finish line reeled me in. 

I stopped the clock at 54:49, much better than my last effort and over a rolling course with hills so although still quite a way off my best I'm pretty pleased with that.  Must give a quick thanks to the marshals out on the road who did a great job and managed to stop traffic when runners where approaching.