Ageas Bowl 10k, 2018

This week has been a bit duff.  A some point on Monday it dawned on me that the strange head and throat feelings I was experiencing were due to... a cold.  Very dispiriting.  I was all st to take my weekly mileage up a few notches, but had to scrap all that for being sensible in the context of a lot of sneezing, nose-blowing and sore-throating.

Yesterday morning I felt as though I was coming out of the woods, and managed a gentle cross-country 10 miler with Poppy.  And this morning, the Lovely Mrs S and I took a long route (avoiding M27 closure) to the Rose Ageas Bowl for the inaugural 10k race.

What made today special was that this was the culmination of 10 weeks of training for our very own Hampshire Hares group.  A few assorted injuries and early-phase colds left Jo, Ali and Rob arriving for their 10k race debut.  There was a respectable number of RRRs as well.  The pre-race organisation was slightly chaotic, but after a bit of shuffling I found myself being urged into the 'elite' zone alongside Matt Brown, Alex Prinsep and 15-20 others.  I was feeling very cautious, slightly snotty and distinctly non-elite.

Over the start line, a quick circuit around the stadium and onto the roads.  I found a steady pace which felt comfortable.  I was in a fairly sparse zone, with Kath Bailey a short way ahead... I was half-wishing that Gerry Robson was there to keep me sharp, but I was also glad to be able to find my own pace and reassure myself that I could still run OK.  Did I mention that my left heel/ankle has been just a bit achy?  But all good today.

The conditions were perfect on this fast course on a calm, cool day.  I felt good and I kept the pressure up.  Approaching the Bowl, I was aware of a runner close behind me, and I tried to lift my game.  I lost a couple of seconds in a poorly-marshalled space, but found my bearings and zoomed onto the turf for a lap of the cricket pitch to the finish.

Busting it to the finish line... you can't see my challenger who finished 5 seconds behind.

I managed to stay ahead of my challenger (Gary Armstrong - but only just - check this out) and finished in a split time of 37:39. This was a fantastic result - my fastest 10k since Eastleigh in 2013!  There were smiles all round as everyone had found this a super-fast race, and the Hampshire Hares were all thrilled with their outings.  Here are my stats.

I've been saying recently that fast flat short races aren't really my thing... but to hell with all that... this was huge fun!

Massive plaudits to Jo, Rob and Ali, the magnificent Hampshire Hares

With Matt and Alex, who are way faster than me

The Romsey gang in bouncy form