Hull 10k 2015

Beyond the end of the M62 lies Kingston Upon Hull.  I've only had cause to visit the East Riding of Yorkshire a couple of times, once for a wedding and a couple of times to visit The Deep, but I have never felt the need for a day out in Hull.  York, Sheffield, Huddersfield, Halifax, all have their appeal but Hull has just never sparked off my imagination.

Finally, this weekend I had a legitimate reason for visiting the home of the Tigers, the Hull 10k.  This was the first of the five races that make up my Run For All Ultimate Season Ticket and I wanted to make a good show of it, so I arranged to stay over night in Hull rather than making a mad dash for the start line from Leeds in the morning.

The journey to Hull was fine and Gary* and I managed not to get stupidly drunk on Saturday night.  I woke fresh in the morning and consumed my traditional pre-race breakfast of black coffee and an orange juice, saving a banana for consumption 1 hour before the start of the race.  It had rained over night but from the flat window it looked like it had eased off.  We piled into a taxi and took the short drive to the centre of a rain soaked Hull.

By the time we got to the bridge over the River Hull on Alfred Gelder Street the rain was back.  We dropped our bags off and took shelter in the doorway of the Princes Quay shopping centre with the rest of the participants.  Running in the rain is no stranger to me.  I've been running in all conditions over winter, but it looked like this was going to be my first wet race day.  We took the decision to brave the elements, we were going to get very wet soon enough anyway, and we wandered towards the start pens.

I'm really doing this, right?

On our way we picked up Gav, Amy, and Hazel from South Leeds Lakers, resplendent in their lime green tshirts.  I was questioning my decision to run in a vest at this point, but there was no turning back now.  I left the gang behind and made my way into the sub 50 pen and tried to focus on gently warming up and stretching.  My legs hadn't felt the same since a drill session with Farsley Flyers on Thursday night and I didn't help myself by running Bramley parkrun either but I was ready for a run.

The obligatory speeches with local celebs felt like it would never end but finally we were under way, give or take a false start as everybody around me started running before the line only to have to slam on the breaks as the road pinched in to get us all over the timing mats.  Finally we were running and I felt good.  No nerves, no feeling that I was going too fast, passing those around me without having to weave or jump out of the way of slower runners who had found themselves in the wrong pen.

The first couple of kilometres were over fast and I could already see where some of the pinch points were going to be.  The route doubled back on itself in places with runners on both sides of the narrow roads.  As I went through 4k I saw Jan, a friend from Twitter, heading in the opposite direction.  We gave each other a high five and carried on through the drizzle.

The only scenery that I was interested in was the kilometre marker flags so I didn't really pay attention to the houses and seafront that were were running along, you could just make out the Humber bridge in the haze but it was nothing to write home about.  The Deep is impressive though and I couldn't help but smile as we passed it and the 5k marker.  I was very close to my parkrun PB time and it dawned on me that; a) I had been running too fast after all; and b) if I could just keep this pace up I'd be on for a great time.

The section through the docks should have been lovely, but my head was starting to swim with doubt over my ability, so I didn't pay any attention to the boats bobbing along side us.  The course took us back into the heart of Hull, through the pedestrianised shopping streets, which were full of crowds cheering us on, along with some people oblivious to the fact that the race was happening, blindly walking against the tide of runners, smoking and drinking, in the middle of the road.  How they weren't knocked over is beyond me.

Photo via the Hull Daily Mail.

Passing our previous rain shelter, the Princes Quay shopping centre, I knew there wasn't long left.  I had time in the bag to beat my previous 10k PB of 49:52, set in Leeds last year, and I was also close to my target for the year of running a 10k in under 45 minutes.  I hadn't set a specific target for the Hull 10k and was using it to see how close I was to that Leeds time so I was elated when I crossed the line in 45:30.  The Leeds time had fallen and I was very close to my dream time.

I really enjoyed the Hull 10k.  The conditions were perfect. The rain was gentle and cooling, there wasn't much wind to speak of and for once it wasn't a baking hot day.  The rain had made the cobbled sections through the docks slippery and the many twists and turns meant constantly altering your stride but obviously not by enough to really affect my time.

Glory Achieved

It is 4 weeks until the Leeds 10k.  4 weeks to find 30 seconds.  Only 3 seconds per kilometre.  before then there is the Pennine 10k, a trail race in Middleton and continuing training for the York marathon and the TrailTrekk so I wont manage any specific speed work.  I'll just have to see what Leeds brings, but for now I'm going to sit back and bask in the glory of the Hull 10k.

*not only was Gary my host for the night, but the Hull 10k was also going to be his first race.  For once I was out nerved.