Solihull 3k

Elbows flying...pushing in the back...these 3k races are brutal!!

It is my first ever 3k track race, I have done 2 others but both were just myself about a minute ahead on a Neath open meeting on a Tuesday night a year ago in about 8.45 so it is not really a 'race'

I was quite excited about doing it but half way through the drive up there I thought I might not make the race. As I came off the M4 and then went up through Monmouth to join the M50/M5 there was a massive accident on the roads and we came to a complete stop! Everyone was getting out of the cars as helicopters started to arrive to take away the injured but lucky for us the main accident was going the other way and our road was stopped to clear some of the debris. So we were moving about half hour later but the other side was rammed for about 3/4miles and by the look of the two cars, 3 police car, 2 fire engines, ambulance, helicopters they weren't going to be moving for a good while!!

Anyway back to the 3k race. I arrived about 40mins before the start so by the time I got my number etc, I had about 30mins so did a quick jog and then headed to the track and did a couple of laps around the stadium before starting to change into race kit. I had time for a few strides on the back straight and then it was time to go. It seemed to be a lot of runners so we were split into two groups on the track and I was stuck in lane 2 for about 2 laps before getting on the inside. There were elbows flying everywhere though with the odd push in the back....I couldn't go anywhere though. I was happy with the pace though and going round the odd 'blow out' who went off to fast it seemed to be going fine. I honestly didn't really feel or remember too much about it till I looked up and saw 2 laps to go. At that time I wished I was in a 5k race because I was ticking over nicely, trouble came though as the pace started to pick up and straight away I started to feel it in the legs. By now though there was about a line of 3 in front of me so I could have gone a little bit faster but if I had tried to go round the group I would have suffered.... So I just stayed there. It came to the home straight and I just kept working to the line to just dip under the 8.20 mark (8.19).

I was happy with the race, time and the way I felt so a worth while trip in the end...maybe I should do a few more of these 3k races though!

Simx