Great Yorkshire 10k

I’m a little bit delayed in getting this posted up due to work commitments over the last week or so.

The Great Yorkshire run in Sheffield was all about just having a run out and getting used to racing again as it had been such a long time. Off the back of the summer I’d struggled with my magnesium levels so it was always going to be a little nerve wracking for me first time out.

My intentions were to just come out of the race feeling good about myself. I set off with the pace and the first mile felt very quick even though it was downhill. I settled into my running just on the back of the two leaders, Chris Thompson and Micah Kogo. They soon pushed on and left us other Brits battling it out for the remaining places in the headwind. I began to feel pretty rubbish around the 4k mark so I moved onto the back of the pack of 5 of us. Once we reached the u-turn point we began to head back towards the start/finish area outside the famous Crucible snooker theatre. Much to my surprise we faced a headwind again going back. I got through my rough patch and pushed the pace a little. It was just to see if anyone else was feeling good. The group strung out so I settled back down again but soon after Andy Lemonchello made a big surge leaving me trailing a little.

I felt although I just didn’t have the leg speed to go with his injection of pace. Stu Stokes covered it and a couple other guys, Marius of Romania and Sean Connelly of Ireland slowly pulled away from me leaving me on my own. I just kept a strong pace going and after the initial surge of a minute of two the lads in front of me weren’t getting any further away however they weren’t getting much closer.

Once I passed the 8k marker I knew the course was going to get pretty challenging. I didn’t flog myself on the hills as I knew it would be a tough task to reel in the lads ahead of me who were around 20-30 seconds in front. I kept my strong pace going up the final big hill to the finish and crossed the line in 7th position in 30:39.

On the whole it wasn’t too bad a day for me as I blasted out the cobwebs in my legs which is what I wanted to achieve. The time was a little disappointing but I think the tough course knocks the times back by 30-40 seconds due to the hills.

I’ll look forward to my next Great Run outing as the Nova guys look after us athletes really well.