BMC Solihull 5,000m

So many times you see the marathon guys like Lemoncello and Wicks coming home as top British athlete in a 10k race (or sometimes shorter) and also in the case of the previous generation so is there a real need to run 3.4? for 1500m, maybe so but I can't run that fast over shorter distances but I still think I can run comfortably under 14minutes for 5k. But I am going to have to wait a bit longer to do so.....

Having only run one track race before this all year and about 2 'short' track sessions I suppose it's asking a lot but when you brake it down you have to run 2.47/48 back to back 5 times which I thought was possible, especially in a good field. The plan was to take a gamble and go off with the pace maker to 3k and then just see what I had left but within a lap I already felt quite heavy and the extra second or so was just out of reach. So Luke Cragg headed off with James Walsh while I closed up to Paskar Owar with a couple of runners inbetween.

I tried to switch off and relax as we clicked off a couple of laps and dint even look up for the first 'K'. As we came towards the 2^nd K I wasn't falling off or anything but knew this was probably as quick as I was able to go tonight and at some point I was going to have to get through a bad lap or two, then we clicked through in 5.36 for 2k which was about on target for 14 dead. Then just as Paskar started to slow and I thought about going to the front of the pack I was saved by Jonny Mellor who went around, I jumped on the back of him and then for some reason I can't actually remember the next two laps.....what I do remember is seeing Cragg walking down the back straight and then I was up the arse of a guy in a blue vest!

We headed towards 3k and it went past in 8.26 and I was hanging on to this guys coat tails hoping he didn't sprint off, as I knew there were a few lined up behind me and I was pretty much on the edge at this point but 5 laps is not a huge amount so just kept thinking 'one step at a time'. With 3 laps left I really wanted to slow down but thought about a 1200m loop we do and convinced myself it wasn't that far so pushed again to hold the pace and the guy in front..... but I was starting to think sub 14 would be difficult especially as I don't have 1500m runners kick to finish with. With 400m to go a few guys jumped ahead and made a move and I really tried to kick on with legs weighing a tonne! 200m to go I saw the clock say 13:31 so a 28sec last 200m would do it but considering I don't go much faster in 200m reps that was going to be a push to say the least!

I crossed the line and saw 14.03 which was a bit disappointing at first but knowing how hard I worked with a big four weeks in the legs I should be happy with that. It's hard to juggle the training to aim for longer distances and race over 5,000m but looking at the big picture of just two 5,000m track races all summer, nothing else shorter and getting two personal best's of 14.06 and then 14.03 I am happy enough, and with one more left I just need 1second a 'K' before I start thinking about braking 13minutes!

1 249 James Walsh LEED 13:46.2

2 248 Jonathan Mellor LIV 13:55.0

3 251 Chris Powner WIN 14:02.3

4 246 Fredrik Uhrbom SWE 14:03.2

5 239 Jakob Hannibal DEN 14:03.4

6 237 Simon Jones BEL 14:03.8

7 243 Phil Nicholls TIP 14:05.9

8 238 Matthew Barnes ALT 14:13.0

9 255 Paulo Pinherio POR 14:16.2

10 241 Lewis Timmins MOR 14:20.7

11 254 Steve Sharp BEL 14:21.4

12 236 Patrick Martin SUN 14:22.7

13 244 Thomas Fitzpatrick IRE 14:23.0

14 240 Tom Anderson WIN 14:24.9

15 252 Paskar Owor BEL 14:26.0

16 346 A. Addulramen 14:54.1

O and one more thing before I go....that A.Addulramen is an absolute liability, that's the second time I have raced him and the sooner he disappears the better! He raced like a 10 year old girl in Bristol jumping all over the shop for 5k before hitting a wall and wasn't any better here being a pain in the ass for a few laps cutting people up and pushing people wide before going out the back door.

Simx