My short-lived track career!!



I did say to a good friend that I would "try anything" once and I felt that I couldn't really refuse Archie Jenkins challenging me to enter the British Masters 10000m track championships when I met him marshalling at the marathon in London a few weeks ago.

Post-race with Charlene (1st V35)

I then promptly forgot about it until a few days before the race when I started having nightmares about running rounds in circles, forgetting the number of laps I'd done/still had to do, impeding other faster runners, and trying to avoid massive detours to pass others.

I still have a big fear of race starts and so it takes me a little while to get into any run. In a road race this means that I usually spend the first part of the event weaving round people and working my way up the field. The main difference with a track race is that you don't just have to pass people once, you may have to pass them (or be passed by them) on multiple occasions as the laps progress.

Nice and wet to start with

My race consisted of all the ladies and the men from age 65 upwards so there was a total spread of pace. I had no idea how the run would go as I felt knackered when just running around to warm up (though it was hard to feel warm with the wind and on/off rain). 

The event started a bit late as the hurdles had to be cleared from the ongoing pentathlon, but we were all called up to the start line. I was pulled up by the official starter as, without noticing, I'd put my right toe "on" the start line rather than "behind" it, but order was restored, the gun was fired and we were off.

Getting up to speed on the first corner

The track was rather wet and slippy, especially in the outer lanes, so my most pressing thought was not to fall over in the first few metres with everyone watching. I briefly envied those wearing spikes but had decided that I'd be happier running 25 laps in my usual race shoes. I ran wide round the first bend to pass most of the field and by halfway down the backstraight found myself leading the race.

This wasn't what I'd expected....and it wasn't that pleasant as there was a headwind down that backstraight and I knew that we had to do that stretch another 24 times!

Starting to move away from Charlene

A girl tucked in right behind me and I wondered if she was going to use me as a windbreak for the whole race. Although you always feel the headwind against you down, there never seems to be an equal benefit from a tailwind, and this was compounded by the home straight being more sheltered by the "grandstand".

Lapping some of the "more experienced" men

Don't worry, I'm not going to describe the race lap by lap.....it was bad enough watching the lap counter tick down slowly every time I passed it, though I have to admit that it was probably easier for me than some others as the lap counter denotes the number for the race leaders, and so it must be rather dispiriting for lapped athletes.

Passing several abreast at times..

It took me almost three laps to catch my first man.....a legendary v80 runner with several age group records. As he said post-race, he set off rather too fast so I started to lap him slightly sooner every time, until it got down to every second lap, though he always wished me well as I passed. The pre race briefing had advised us that faster runners must move out to pass, which does make sense as you can see those that you are approaching from behind and so drift out into a different land in good time. This only became a bit of a nightmare when you had to pass people running several abreast.....and even worse was when you caught them in a bend. Due to the difference in pace, it made more sense to me to run slightly further by moving wide, than to slow down significantly and wait until a straight section. It was actually quite fun to keep passing the same people, but with the gaps varying as they started to lap each other.

A soggy lap

Vicki Thompson had told me pre-race that it would "be easy" once the lap counter showed 17 laps to go.....and as she was supporting us all on the 200m line, I made sure to let her know that it didn't feel like it was getting any easier to me. She was so good at encouraging us all, and reminded me when I was exactly halfway through so I could start mentally counting down. With about 9 laps to go, I asked her where the second placed runner was and she advised me that I had a decent gap (it was had to work out who was what distance behind you, due to the number of intervening people on different laps). 

A sunny lap

When I passed her the next time, she told me that I had an 80m lead, so I hoped I wouldn't lose more than 10m per lap as I'd lead for so long. However, by the next lap, she said that it was down to 55m...."eek", I thought, "I've lose 25m in one lap", so the next time I passed her I said I thought it was all over and that I was going to be caugh. She encouraged me to push on, and (although she might have been "bending" the truth to keep me going) the gap did seem to open up again.

My attempt at a sprint for the line!

I knew that I was more likely to be stronger at the finish than other runners.....they might have more speed, but I can probably keep going for longer at a certain pace....and tried to pick it up slightly for the last couple of laps. I know that I really don't have a sprint at all.....and "lengthening my stride" probably makes it only "slightly" shorter than everyone else's normal gait, but I tried to push down the final home straight, as I was dreading being outsprinted for the line.

 

Nice bling!

Getting my British and North East medals

As it turned out, I had no need to worry as the final margin was 21 seconds, but it was lovely to meet and go for a cool down jog with Charlene afterwards (she was awarded the first v35 position so there are medals all round). I'm no track convert and may well never do a race like that again, so it was lovely of my parents to come along and support. I was very impressed that they came down trackside, cheered me on and took photos when it was raining as well as on the odd sunny lap. In fact, everybody was amazingly friendly, which took the pressure off the actual race and made it more of a fun day out (and I can't complain about the farm shop/cafe we visited afterwards).