England Championships 5000m

Originally I hadn't planned to run this event but it would be silly not to run a national championship event with the chance of a medal. I spoke with John and said i'd like to run it and stretch my legs on the Tuesday before at Stretford.

I ran the 1500m at the Stretford BMC gold meet and managed to get a good workout in poor conditions. It was pretty damp with on and off rain throughout the evening but the rain managed to hold off when I raced. 

As there was some good runners in the field the plan was to just go off at 60 second pace and follow the others who had asked for faster at 800m but after 100m it soon came clear nobody wanted to follow the pacemaker apart from Wilko. But after 200m a gap opened up behind the pacemaker so I moved round and tucked in behind going through the first lap in 60 seconds with a slight gap behind me. I continued on and went through 800m in 2:00/01 as the pacemaker moved out I still had the same gap behind. I carried on to 1200m in 3:01, again with the same gap behind. I worked hard round the top bend trying to hold my form as I could hear the lads behind. I stayed strong down the home straight and won it in 3:46.9, with Wilko 2nd in 3:47. I got what I needed out of the race and preparation for the weekend.

Gateshead was not as strong a field as the UK Championships however it was still a national title up for grabs and there were faster athletes in the field than me so it was going to be tough. It was very windy on the day so I had no intention of hitting the front in the early stages so I just sat in. 

John Beattie took up the running for the first 3k, taking us through in around 8:40. It stayed the same for the first 8 laps, with everyone just sat in a line lap after lap. Draper followed Beattie and I was behind Draper. With 4 laps to go I decided I wanted the pace to get moving so as we got to 1500m to go on the back straight I pushed on. I got my legs turning and Draper followed with a gap appearing to Beattie. 

I kept the tempo going at 64's, maybe looking back I should have committed a little more and upped the tempo faster as running 64's isn't going to get rid of anyone! As I got to 500 to go I knew it was coming down to a sprint so I was backing off a little heading up to the bell gathering myself waiting for Draper to kick on. Little did I know but Neilson Hall was coming at us like a man possessed! He caught my by surprise on the back straight and before I knew it he was up my inside and past. I tried to respond but my legs didn't seem to want to. I got to 150 to go and I couldn't match the finishing pace of the other two lads so I had to settle for 3rd position.

In reflection if I'd been more aware of what was behind me rather than trying to race Draper I could have pushed in the penultimate lap and made sure Neilson didn't come at us so strongly and guaranteed a silver but I didn't because I believed I could win it. It wasn't to be my day but I can't complain at picking up another national medal this season.

Now I need to look towards the next 5000 and concentrate on getting my time down.

The race can be viewed here, thanks to the lads at Athleticos.org.