Escrick 10k
I had some choices of races to do this weekend, my coach had informed of the 10,000m that was happening at Birmingham, and Basingstoke were doing the British League at Derby. Both of these provided good sharpening opportunities with the Bristol Half-marathon just 2 weeks away. However, my coach seemed a better bet was to do a random offroad 10k up in York (where I was that week anyway) and use that as a hard effort in the middle of a 90minute run, to top up endurance.
It was a proper village 10k, with tea at 20p a cup and a bbq going on at the village green. It was on bridleways and dusty paths and it was really refreshing to be racing through woods and the middle of the countryside. It was a very windy day, but the course was pretty flat and although it was offroad, it was fairly firm underfoot. I had no real plan, except not to batter it at the start and make sure I run a hard sustained effort.
The wind was in my face at the start, causing the first 2 miles to be 5.11 and 5.25, but then we disappeared into the woods. I was a good 200m or so clear at this point so it was just me and the quad bike, which seemed to enjoy nailing it away from me and hiding behind the corner that I hadn't seen it go behind at all until I was right there. I reached 3k in 9.54 and 5k in 16.20, but the wind behind me in the 2nd half meant I could cruise at close to 5minute miling and run the 2nd 5k in 15.47, allowing me to finish in 32.07, winning by over 3 minutes and taking 2 minutes off the course record.
I won £50 cash for my efforts, had a bacon butty and a cup of tea and then did a few pubs in Olde Yorke Town to refresh myself. I was fairly happy with the run, it was twisty and windy and sandy underfoot in some places, so I thought it was a much better run than my (admittedly pretty crap) 31.39 on the roads last week.
Comments On "Escrick 10k"