Rothwell 10k - Sub 35 Again.

The idea of just 'trotting' round the Rothwell course and using it as a training run for the Leeds Half soon disappeared. The first part of the race was furiously fast and the only thing that was aching was my neck - staring at the Garmin bewilded by the pace. I even tapped it 3 times to see if it was working properly. I did the first mile in 5.08, second mile in 5.11. This was faster than I had raced before and it wasn't long before my legs were telling me that.

Despite the bad weather there was a large turnout for the race. Andrew Pearson(Longwood) and Stephen Hepples(Newham) were this years main challengers. Andrew Wasn't about to run along side Stephen for any of the race and built up a sizable gap right from the start. I lost sight of the leaders when the race route veered right towards Methley. I would say the gap between them was about 30 seconds by then. I had my sights on a group of runners from Bingley Harriers -containing John Convery and Tim Midgley. They are always reliably close to or breaking 33 minutes for 10k. I knew if I kept them in view a possible sub 34 minutes was on the cards.

When the race route turned left onto the main Methley road, that was when the early pace began to tell on me, and my pace began to slow down fairly rapidly. I was aware of Kevin Ogden from Spen and that he would take full advantage of this weakness(rightly so). Every available resource was put into a strong finish and I managed to run through the pain and was rewarded with a 34-29 time.

If there is one lesson I have learned from this race - it is;- never set off too fast even if the race is down hill.