Would you believe it? Best 10K result in 6 years!

Running is like life - It can be full of surprises. After my disappointing 10 Mile race two weeks ago, and the slight interruption in training with the tooth problems, I was trepidatious when I drove up to Belfast on Sunday morning for the Spar Laganside 10K Road Race. The weather wasn't even trying to help as it was persitently drizzling all the way up.

I have mentioned before that 10K is not that common a distance here in Ireland for some strange reason (given we are metric on out roads etc.), but this was to be only my 5th 10K race since 2003, and as you know, I try and race pretty frequently.

There were over 400 entries for this race starting on the Short Strand and then heading across the Queens Bridge into Belfast City and around the cycle path on the embankment of the River Lagan. The race was to be 1 3/4 laps and was pretty flat with a couple of small bumps over bridges and back to the road from the cycle path.

The race was started with a whistle, and I quickly got into my stride and felt comfortable as we headed over the bridge and started to spread out. I missed the first K marker, but saw the 2K sign and saw that I was at 9:00 dead, and was running evenly, so I guess two 4:30 Kms. I had been aiming around 4:40 pace, so I eased back a little, so as to be within my time frame, knowing I had 20 seconds to spare on my target if I tired. The drizzle had stopped, and whilst no sun appeared, the running conditions were very good, no wind, and a good surface once we were on the cycle path.

The next three kilometres were even paced at 4:40, so reaching the halfway point at 23:00. This was faster than I had been expecting, and whilst I was feeling it in my running, it wasn't an "easy" run, I felt comfortable around this pace, and the 6K mark came up some 4:32 later, so still well on target for my sub 47 race. The second half of races has been a mental problem for me off late, but I hung in there, focusing on my style, and dealing with a wet, paper, number that was detaching itself from my singlet, I tried to refix it, but it disintegrated in my hand, so I ripped the rest of the number off, and squeezed it in my hand as I ran the last third of the race.

Kilometres 7 and 8 were the slowest ones of the race as I relaxed and tried to ensure a sub 47 race, not burning myself out (as done in other races this year). I ran 4:43 and 4:45 here, but knew that I had something left in the tank for the last 2000. As we ran up the cycle path, I started to pick other runners out as targets for the last mile - The penultimate K was run in 4:35, and my brain was calculating hard that I could manage under 46, never mind 47, if only I can finish under 4:25 in that last tenth.

Now, my forte used to be my strong ability to kick over the last 100m. Sadly that knack has been lacking in the last year or so, but I am trying to develop a longer, stronger drive for home from around 500m. Picking off other targets in that distance, I was winding it up well, and I could see what I thought was the finish, only to be directed to turn 180 degrees into a drive and run a further 50m, I dug hard and pushed on, crossing the line and stopping my watch at 45:55 - I had run 4:20 for that last kilometre, and negative splits for the race.

So, I was surprised by this speed. Amazed to break 46 at this stage in my training, and running my fastest 10K since June 2003. When I did the WAVA age related calculations, my percentage came out at 66.58%, which made it my best 10K since August 2001, when I was flying in training for ---- Philadelphia!

As I said, running can be full of surprises, some better than others, but I'm certainly not complaining about this surprise, just have to continue to build for Philly.