Wickham Spring 10k, 2019

It was a bright, cool morning as we headed out to Wickham. The clocks had gone forward, so it felt like a very early start. The lovely Mrs S and I were both running the 10k version of a 3-in-1 race - there were also 20k and 20 mile options, all starting together and running one, two or three-and-a-bit laps of the same course.  We had friends doing all three variants, and we had a good natter in race HQ.

The Rural Running races can have highly varied fields, ranging from not-very-competitive (qv 2018 Twixmas) to to full-on fight-to-the-finish jobs, exemplified by my tussle with Gerry Robson last year at the 2018 Wickham 10, starting from the same venue. 

We set off up a drag of a hill, and almost immediately four guys edged ahead.  I kept them in sight, but they were setting an aggressive pace.  Before long there was no one in sight behind me, and I was wondering whether I would be able to hold on and possibly gain some ground in the later stages.  About 3km in, they started turning left ahead of me. Getting closer, the big yellow sign said '20 miles only'. I couldn't believe that these guys were going to keep this up for 20 miles; and more to the point, I was suddenly on my own.

After that, it was a lonely flog. I was feeling quite weary after yesterday's manual labour in the garden, and I tried to temper the effort of bashing away with enjoying the beauty of the course, enhanced by the sealed roads. It was really peaceful and delightful... but nonetheless a bit weird.

I finished the 10.5km race in 39:46.  I was given a medal and a trophy, and after getting my breath back II wandered off to get some clothes from the car.  I returned to find that there was still no sign of any other finishers.  Had I taken a shortcut, I wondered?  Was this really a 10-mile course which I had inadvertently skipped? It was a relief when other started appearing over the hill.  After a handful had finished I realised that Mrs S would be due any moment.  Could she be 1st F? Two female figures appeared, Mrs S just behind... she was second lady and sixth place overall, exultant at having hit the 10k point in a personal best.

Here are my stats. I was pleased with the way I had run, but it did reinforce the point that competition is much more exciting than an easy win.