Pennine Lancashire 10k

Having travelled to the end of the M62 two weeks ago for the Hull 10k, this weekend I set off in the other direction and crossed the Pennines to Burnley, home of the Pennine Lancashire 10k.  Like Hull before it, I had only had reason to visit Burnley a couple of times in the past so I knew very little about what the town was like, or more importantly, what the the route for the race was.  I knew so little about Burnley that I had spent the best part of Saturday working out where I would be able to get parked.

When I wasn't double checking car parks and road closures I was checking the weather forecast.  Hull had been wet, but it was a fine drizzle on a still day, perfect for keeping cool during a run.  Burnley was set for heavy rain all morning.  I don't mind running in the rain one bit, but the idea of standing around in the rain for an hour waiting for the race to get started wasn't something I was looking forward to.  Neither was the drive over the tops.  I know that it doesn't take much for the M62 to grind to a halt so I set off from Leeds before 7am to give myself plenty of traffic jam time, should I need it.

Luckily I didn't and I was in Burnley just after 8, an hour and a half before the gun and, as it happens, kicking out time from the town's night clubs.  Groups of staggering drunken lads and girls falling out of their high heels, dodging pools of sick, was not the welcome to Burnley that I had imagined.  But I had made it and could finally start thinking about the race.  It was only then that I discovered that I'd left my watch at home.  I don't run with a clever GPS watch, just a simple stopwatch, thinking about pace and splits is part of how I run.  I felt nude and lost, but at least the forecast rain hadn't turned up yet.

I made my way from the baggage drop to the starting pens and it dawned on me how small the field was.  I was stood with the other people planning to run sub 50 and we were almost within touching distance of the start line.  The mass warm up was dutifully ignored by all around me as we primed ourselves for the start, only the start didn't come.  The announcement team jovially told us that there was a car somewhere on the course and that the police were involved in getting it moved.  This was annoying but it shows how seriously Health and Safety is taken at these events.

Isn't the start line close.

After the longest 20 minutes ever we were finally off.  Like a pack of un-caged greyhounds we hurtled along the downhill start and, as is normal, I went off too fast.  Well, I thought that I was going too fast, without my watch I had no way of knowing.  At the first kilometre flag (the site of the erroneous car which had held up the start) I had no way of knowing what my pace was.  The first kilometre of any race always lies but I had no idea what was going on.  I kept focused on my breathing and tried to block out negative thoughts about how I was actually doing.

The course left the roads of Burnley and entered Thompson Park and the start of a 4k climb.  The hill itself wasn't too bad, the gradient wasn't too steep but it did go on, twisting and turning around trail paths.  I knew I had slowed down but, again, I didn't know how much I had slowed down by.  By the time I was heading back down the long hill through Towneley Golf Course I was more or less spent.  I was slowing down whilst running down hill, convinced that my time was shocking and feeling like I had nothing left to give, even though there was still 3k to go.

That nagging "just stop for a little walk" voice just wouldn't leave me alone.  It was only because the "don't forget your watch next time you idiot" voice was louder that I managed to ignore it and run on.  Although I didn't know the course before the race started, I did know that the finish was flat apart from the slight rise to the finish line, the same road that we all ran down at the start.  After passing the 9k flag I had a word with myself, summoned all that I had left and pushed for home, something that I would normally only do in the last couple hundred meters, but needs must.

Glory achieved or could have done better?

I had started the day hoping to run sub 50.  I knew it wasn't a flat race so 45 minutes was out of the question.  When the finish gantry came into view showing the clock still in the mid 40s all doubt left me, replaced be a burning annoyance that I could have gone faster!  I crossed the line in 47:28, two and a half minutes faster than last year's flat Leeds 10k, a time that I should be happy with, but one that I know I should have been able to run faster than.

The next race in the Run For All 10k series is the Leeds in two weeks time and I have my eyes fixed very firmly on it.  I have last year's time of 49:52 to beat, but I also have the time from the Hull 10k (45:30) to deal with.  I have said in the past that I would love to run sub 45 this year and Leeds is as good a chance as any of reaching that goal, however I'll have no chance of achieving it if I leave my watch at home.