After the Berlin Marathon I decided to take a (very) small break from running, in total it was 6 days of nothing then some steady runs in America (Hall of Fame visit), followed by some runs and leg turn over work in Crete (while on holiday). It was never my intention to run on holiday however with Great South being the English 10 mile Championships and prize money on offer I decided I would give it a bash. This meant I had to do something on holiday, even if it meant waking up early before it got hot and before the beer was out my system from the previous night.
Normally I wouldn’t race that soon after a marathon but the fitness would be in the bank and I would be fine, that’s what I kept telling myself anyway. With there being British only prize money it made the race even more appealing, especially for someone on zero funding. Sometimes there is a trade off in doing what would be beneficial to the training/race schedule and doing what is beneficial to the bank account. There are plenty of athletes trying to make a living, and races like these really help even though they might not be the best thing to do in terms of training.
The race set off pretty quick, I believe I went through 2 miles in around 9:18 alongside Dewi Griffiths and Ryan McLeod, Chris Thompson was a little ahead of us in the main pack and Ross Millington sat off us. The three of us maintained a decent pace and around the 10km mark Ross caught us, and our target was my training partner Chris Thompson who was starting to get a little detached from the lead group ahead.
Conditions in Portsmouth were unusual in the sense that there was NO WIND the last 2 miles, literally every time I have done this race previously there as been a strong head wind in the final stretch.
As we approached the 8th mile myself and Ross had got a little gap on Ryan and Dewi and Chris was still in sight. Ross dug deep and managed to catch Chris in the final 1/2 mile and I think in the last mile the fast opening couple of miles began to catch up with me. I held on to take 3rd British guy, finishing 11th Overall. As I mentioned before the race incorporated the English 10 mile championships so I took home the bronze medal. Full results can be found here.
As we approach the end of the year I can start looking ahead to next year and deciding on my race plans leading (hopefully) to the Olympic games in Rio. At the time of writing this I am still waiting for British Athletics to announce the qualifying criteria for the Olympic Games Marathon. I believe there will be a trial (London Marathon) like all the other events, and the qualifying time is 2:14, which so far myself and Callum Hawkins have achieved. Callum ran a fantastic debut in Frankfurt this past weekend to clock 2:12.17
So now we play a waiting game before setting plans for the future….
Until next time.
