Telford 10k, 2022

At some point in the summer, about the time I turned 55, I decided to have a crack at qualifying for the England Masters team in 10k and half marathon races. I put together a training plan from Pfitzinger and Latter's book 'Faster road racing' and manage to stick to it pretty closely through October and November, notwithstanding a few days off the wagon with Covid in October.

My target race was the Telford 10k, described as 'the fastest 10k course in the country'. To qualify, I needed to complete in a time better than 39 minutes (easy), and - here's the crunch - in the top 3 of my age category. Last year I would have had to finish in just over 36 minutes, 30+ seconds faster than my best result this century in Stubbington. A long shot, but worth committing to training and giving it my best shot.

Rob and Nicole, OS Runner friends, offered us a bed at their place in Cheltenham before driving up to Telford on Sunday. But a family funeral in King's Lynn on Saturday forced a change of plans, and instead we drove from King's Lynn to Telford on Saturday evening, the temperature stuck around zero all day.

We were in the grip of a proper cold snap. The weather forecast had been calling a max temp of zero on Sunday, but what we hadn't expected when we looked out of the hotel window was a dusting of snow.

We parked up in central Telford, close to the start, in good time. We headed to a coffee shop, which was blessedly warm and full of hard-looking running folk.

I get to lift at least one trophy today

It's lovely in here... why go outside?

The race was running over 3 waves - elite, sub-40 minutes and the rest. We went outside to watch the elite start. It was a surprisingly low-key start area, but the ferocity of the start was quite something. We met up with Rob and Nicole and I started warming up for the Wave 2 start 40 minutes later.

There were hyper-fit, uber-focused people everywhere, in their own zones of preparation. Strides, leg swings, A-steps, chicken-feeding... it was all happening. What was I going to wear? As I warmed up, I decided to ditch the thermal base layer and go vest, hat and gloves. The tannoy called runners to the start. I stripped down, exchanged goodbyes and good lucks and gathered with the other ruuners. Last minute-decision - ditch the hat.

A countdown, and we were off. Easy, easy, keep it gentle, not too fast - I tried to stay calm through the opening minutes, but in truth it was a very intense time, with runners jammed together running downhill on a narrow winding tarmac track in icy conditions. Twice I almost tripped. It was much faster than I'd planned, but it was clear from a recce beforehand that the downhill start would distort timings. Keep it steady, but use the hill.

I had a home-made M55 label on my back, as required by EA. I didn't see any others, although I saw three M60s ahead of me. They pulled out of sight, and I knew me qualifying was going to be very unlikely. I can't say I loved this race, as I was being regularly overtaken. Nicole passed me after about 4k, looking strong. By about halfway I was losing control of my breathing and having to labour very hard. The snow really started to pile down. It really was one of the most full-on race experiences I'd encountered, surrounded by extremely talented runners crammed together on a narrow course while the snow swirled around.

Lovely day for it

Seen any other M55s around?

I heaved myself over the finish line in 37:32, 6th M55 and 455th overall. Here are my stats. I was a disappointed to be 10 seconds slower than my Eastleigh time this year, but I found much of this race to be a proper struggle - the weather, the narrow course and the lack of any real peers to hang in with. No cigar today - but it was a real privilege to run this race. Next stop, the Farnborough 10k in January. Back to the training!

Nicole knocked out a very impressive 36:48 PB