Wimbledon 10k

This race was to be my last hard effort before the Commonwealths and after my solid run at the 6 stage last week and a strong session on Wednesday I felt I could have a really good run here. Strangely it also attracted a pretty decent field. The lure of £100 cash may have had something to do with that but last year I won it in 31.08 and only really had a Polish guy to keep me company whereas this year the field was much stronger. Ryan Mcleod was using it to test racing after coming down from altitude; Paskar Owor was in it; Ben Whitby was returning to fitness and was on the start line, as well as Tom Bedford and Fraser Thompson (who admittedly I did bully into doing it!). I knew Ryan was fast and going well, and thought he would be the main threat, however I was confident of giving him a pretty hard race in the latter stages. I had done a 40 minute warm up before the race as it was t part of my 21 mile Sunday run.

The course goes round Wimbledon Park, the first lap inside the park and then the second two laps go out of the park and run on the roads outside it, incorporating a hefty hill for about 800m or so. I felt comfortable early on and was at the front of a group with Ryan, Paskar and Ben Whitby. Nothing really changed for the first half of the race as we ticked off the ks. We were actually running quite conservatively at around 5 min miling, although at the time I thought we were moving a bit faster than this. At about 5k, Paskar moved to the front and Ryan followed and gradually pulled away from me. My legs didn’t have the energy I expected they would and I didn’t feel comfortable going with them. With 2k to go I could hear Ben Whitby catching me and thought about going with him when he came past at about a mile to go. I had also noticed Paskar coming back to me also, with Ryan well clear now. As Ben went past I did pick it up a bit but had the Commonwealths at the back of my mind and didn’t want to wreck myself here if I wasn’t feeling great. I let Ben go a bit and he past Paskar and I also got within a second or two of him as we entered the last 400m but he surged away again to beat me a few seconds.

I ended up 4^th  in 31.30 odd and pretty disappointed initially. But I know I’m in good shape – the 6 stage and a really promising session on Wednesday confirm that and so I think I just had a bit of a hangover from a hard week and so am not dwelling too much on it. The course certainly isn’t quick but I’m in better shape than last year and should have gone under 31.00 really.