I really enjoyed my second visit to the BUPA 10K in London this year. I ran it last year with my arm in a plaster cast on and managed to score a big PB in a time of 43:36, not giving myself much opportunity to take in the sights of the capital on route.
This year I ran with Amy, as we had done at the Cancer Research 10K last October and we were hoping to beat the 58 minutes we ran that day. The Cancer Research run was a more relaxed charity event, and the distance wasn't offical nor the race chip timed. The 58 minutes came from my stopwatch, and so whatever the result today it would mark Amy's offical PB.
Her prep for the race hadn't been perfect suffering illness in the week leading up to the race, and with wedding and holiday distractions, running had quite rightly taken a back seat. Thus when we met in Green Park she was definately playing down her chances of beating the time she had previously set.
As we moved towards the Blue start pens, the weather was overcast and pretty perfect for running, but as we waited for our allotted start time the sun appeared from behind the clouds and stayed out for the rest of the race, leaving us on a slow cook. We were finally set off 20mins after Mo Farah and the elietes, and so we never had a chance of catching them up!
The first Km was slow, as it always is at these big city events with so many participants even with the numerous wave starts. But by the second Km Amy and I were gently moving through the field, taking over far more people than were passing us. The second Km was a little downhill and we registered our fastest Km of the race there. Km's three to the half way point were mainly run along the embankment and the crowds were big and noisey, with Amy getting a particuarly big cheer from the NSPCC cheer station as she was running for them today.
We reached halfway in good time, a little ahead of sub 60min and a bit slower than our original goal of 58mins. Amy was struggling with a stitch from about 3K and it hung around for much of the race, but she dug deep and she was feeling strong enough to put a surge on with 2K to go. But we then took it steady before a surge for the line from 400m out as we ran down the Mall. I crossed the line just behind Ames and my Garmin says 59:30 but it stopped under some of the bridges so I think the offical time will be more like 59:45 as long it's under 60mins I don't think either of us will mind!
So my BUPA 10K was a very different experience from 2010, and a very plesant one. It's always nice running with someone, and helping them achieve their goals. Unfortunately it seems to have come at a price. My left knee has been hurting for a week or so, and today's run seems to have aggrivated it. I think my low mileage going into the Marathon meant the Marathon has taken alot more out of me than I first thought. I'll see how the knee is tommorrow and take it from there.
The big events on my horizon are Southend HM, another 10K in London in July and LEJOG the week after. I don't think the knee will affect my cycling at all, and at Southend I am hoping to beat last years time of 1hr 45mins without gunning for my PB of 1hr 34mins so should be able to manage the knee. I just hope it has recovered sufficently that I can have a real crack at a good 10K PB in early July. I will keep you posted on the niggle/injury front and will also be blogging tomorrow when May comes to a close for my training summary.
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