The 2010 Croft Pitstop 10k

This is the second time around for me at Croft. Last year I set my 10k PB here. This year the weather was a bit too breezy for me. A Head wind on the uphill section made sure I was not smashing this PB.
I had the whole posse with me, my wife & son, mother in law & father in law to spectate.

I bumped into Tuomas who also ran the Watergate 10k and participates in the Parkrun series.
He had a bit of difficulty getting to Croft as he has not got a car. He managed to get to Darlo via train then had to get a taxi.
We went about our warm up together and I talked him round the basics of the circuit, before we headed to the start line. His target was to go sub 40 min.

Note to Tuomas:- Last year my Garmin measured this race at 10.11k. This year 10.17k

We all set off at a rather brisk pace, too brisk for me.
This pic was taken by my mother in law. This is me just after the start, running just a tad too fast (5.30 min mile according to the Garmin data).I was not going to be able to keep this speed up for very long.
I averaged 6:24 min/mile for the first mile. Way too fast for my plans of keeping an average of around the 7:15 mark. It took its toll as the race progressed. Mile 2 was fine at 7:16. Then, I started getting into trouble by mile 3. My pace was dropping off. Not helped by the guy in front of me stopping on the running line every 250 yards then running past me then stopping again!!!! By the 4th mile I was really feeling the effects of the head wind on the uphill section and I had a stitch. I also hit a lone section where apart from the guy who kept stopping , there seemed to be no one else around. But there was. He was approaching fast and I only realised towards the end when I could hear him very close behind me. The only time I felt safe from him was near the finish line, where my father in law yelled that I had 10 yards on him. By that time I had used up the last of my energy on the sprint finish.
I cant believe the guy who stop started all the way round, actually beat me.


Pitstop 7th July 2010

Garmin Data : Here

This film was shot by my 6 yr old with his Canon Powershot A450 set to video. I'm on my first lap here. The satellites clocked me at 7:15 min/mile.