Clock Change Challenge, 2022

A beautiful spring day, and the lovely Mrs S and I set off early to Calne in north Wiltshire for a new 10k race, part of the Wiltshire Road Race League and advertised as flat and therefore recovering-ankle-friendly.

It was a friendly, low-key event, with 5k and fun runs going on as we arrived. Very different to last week's Eastleigh run. I found myself near the start line and had a chat with a couple of Corsham runners, and we were off. In retrospect, I was less disciplined about tempering my pace at the start than I was last week, figuring that there would be less pressure in a smaller event, and as a result I clocked the first km in 3:37, a bit quick.

A quick lap of the playing field at the start

The course was essentially an out-and-back, with a small loop in the middle, like an inverted balloon on a string. From about 2k, there was a discernible gradient, which came more pronounced going into the loop. I was working hard, and panting up the slope.

Returning downhill, and into the second half, I struggled to regain my breath. I could feel myself slowing and at around 7k got overtaken by a Salisbury runner, Peter Callanan. The long road seemed a bit interminable, and I was rather grimly hanging on.

Into the final mile, and the gentle uphill slope was tough. The plan was to sprint the final 200m or so from the road turning to the playing field finish line, which really did for me. Peter had decisively beaten me to first M50, and I finished 12th place in 37:55; here are my stats. My pacing wasn't terribly pretty, but as Mrs S pointed out, I'm still relatively new on the racing block at the moment, re-learning old lessons, and possibly still depleted after last weekend. Racing in lovely countryside on a spring morning... works for me.