Time to step up a gear - properly this time!

My trip to Caravan County to take part in a piddling 10K in Ashford on Sunday was eventful if nothing else. The race is a tidy affair and, as soon as it was known I'd be appearing, it was another sell out. And you know, it makes me feel really humble that I can be of assistance to the ordinary running community. You see, its OK us elite runners turning up to the Olympics and to the London Marathons of this world - but we wouldn't ever have reached such dizzy heights if it hadn't been for the existence of these small club events. So come on Paula – how about the Bewl 15 or the Hastings half then? Let us both be beacons of light in the murky world of paid athletes eh?

Because that's why you'll always find this kiddie trying, week by week, in my own little way, to put a little back into the sport which has given me so much. (Mind you it hasn't given me any really tangible rewards yet but that's something I'm going to address very shortly).

Mind you the organisers had a great way of ensuring that all the runners went through a proper warm down and stretching routine at the end. They made sure that all the cars in the car park sank up to their hub caps in mud – and we had to spend 45 minutes pushing the buggers out!

Anyway, so it was that I lined up for the piddling 10K and, after signing a few autographs and going through my start routine of groin thrusts and anal crunches I was away - like a racing snake I was. I had a target time of 54 minutes but I was really trying to get as far south towards 52 minutes as I could. That required me to run at just over 5 minute kilometre pace. Things were going OK and at the 7K mark I was on 36 minutes, so continuing that pace would see me cross the line in a little under 52 minutes – job done. To be honest I wasn't that confident because I'd been out on the rehydration for each of the previous five nights - so I was beginning to feel the pinch a tad. But I was still confident of exceeding my target.

To pause for a moment though. It just shows you how much I've regressed over the last couple of years - my target time was a full five minutes slower than my best time for this event and I was just thinking about this when I approached the hill at just past 7K. And I suddenly got a chuffing stitch. I've never had a stitch whilst running before - so to get one here was a tad annoying to say the least. As a result I had to walk for a couple of minutes and although I picked it up again towards the top of the hill by then I'd dropped behind my pace. I did put a bit of a spurt on for the last kilometre and eventually crossed the line in 53.02.

Now whilst that was ahead of my target time I know that I could have done so much better so I was a bit miffed. That flipping stitch must have cost me a trophy as well because whilst I'm not sure exactly where I was in the field, there were not too many ahead of me - I reckon I was 2nd or 3rd but eventually finished 285th.

So that has got me thinking now. And I've decided that the next couple of weeks are going to have to see a step-up in class from your man here. First of all, I've thrown away the bottle opener - and thrown away it will stay until at least Sunday night. That will give me plenty of time to prepare properly for my visit to Livingstone's Pit this Sunday for the Roding Valley Half. My target isn't a namby, pamby 2 hours plus jobbie either. I'm going for an event pb. The only time I've run the race before I ran it in 1.59.21 - so I'm going to beat myself up if I don't tip that time. There – that’s sticking my neck out!

I follow that with my first overseas event of the year with a visit to Bruges (yes, I know, the home of my lovely juice!) for the Ostend to Bruges 10 Mile Race - target? Under 85 minutes. Finally I then take up the challenge of the Hastings Half marathon when I'll be pushing as hard as I can to get as close to 1 hour 55 minutes as I can.

In the meantime I'm focusing on getting miles under my belt - and as I sit here today in Ron Towers I'm contemplating my 16 mile training run which I need to do today.

I've also got some work to do on securing sponsorship and selecting my media partner - and I hope to bring you news on this later in the week.

Until then ...

Keep on tapering.


Ron