Run > Race

Pett's Wood 10k.

There was a pretty grim start to the day when it was absolutely pouring with rain on my arrival at the sports ground! I collected my race number and then spent the next 40 minutes huddled in a series of small tents with several hundred other cold, wet runners, while my teeth chattered and I shivered uncontrollably!

Eventually we were coaxed out of the semi-dry by the enthusiastic marshals, and into the well organised series of start pens. I went to the front of the 50-55 minute pen. We were staggered in starting, so didn't get realised until about a minute after the wave at the front. As soon as we started there were cries of "careful on the first corner, it's very slippery" which was a timely warning as the surface was crazy already! Luckily, after one lap of the sports ground we were out on the road. Lots of people were overtaking me, but I was sticking to my plan of 8:30mm. I had originally hoped to go below 50 minutes and aim for 8:00mm, but lack of training and lingering cold meant that I thought I should be realistic!

Once out onto the tarmac the running felt good. There were a reasonable number of people out supporting despite the rain and the mood was lifting as we all warmed up! I was a few seconds behind target pace but gradually catching up and fairly relaxed.

The next stage of the course was to run along a narrow alleyway and path, which did cause a little congestion. Then we had to go up some stairs, across a railway bridge and down the stairs on the other side. I wasn't too bothered by this but I was slightly shocked to see that I was suddenly about a minute behind target! I think I realised by this point that even 8:30mm would be difficult but there was still a lot of the race to go.

After some more roads we suddenly took a sharp turn onto the first hill, which is around 3km in. This was difficult and was a single file uneven path with quite a steep gradient. Lots of people were stopping to walk up it, having started over enthusiastically (probably to try to warm up!) so this section required some negotiating of walkers! I was feeling ok, and just taking it fairly steady. Once we reached the top of the hill it was onto an undulating muddy path, which was a bit of a rollercoaster and slightly hair-raising on the downhills. I decided just to go for it and overtook loads of people on the downhill bit, splashing straight through the puddles while, bizarrely given how wet we all were, some people tried to avoid them.

We then ran across some fields and then onto another path, passing the halfway point. This came up at about 3.07 on my watch and the time was about 27:00, so I knew that there was no chance of a quick time by this point, but I was enjoying myself and still feeling good. The next part of the course was probably the hardest bit, but also the most fun. We headed into the forest and were running among the trees again with lots of ups and downs (although mostly ups!) with very thick mud and puddles everywhere. I was absolutely drenched by this point and covered with mud, but it was awesome fun. This section ended with a series of long gradual uphills. I was doing ok until the last one, but at that point, about 7.5k I started to feel like I was working quite hard for the first time really. I looked at my watch and saw that it was on the set virtual partner pace, but i clicked off that and seemed to be only 40 seconds behind. I was quite surprised by this, as I hadn't thought the muddy, hilly section through the woods could have been at above 8:30mm pace. Nevertheless I realised that my target time of 52:52 was still possible so pushed on.

At 8km we finally exited the woods and were back on the roads. I was pretty tired by this point but still feeling ok. By 9km I was only 20 seconds behind, but from about 9 to 9.5k was all uphill so I was just trying to hang on. We started to pass signs saying that we were nearly at the end and I pushed harder. Finally, 10 seconds behind now, I ran into the sports ground. I could see the finishing arch only 100m away and I was still 10 seconds behind. I sprinted flat out for the line, even though the mud was so thick and churned up that I could barely get any purchase! I dived across the line and stopped my watch: "0.00 seconds ahead!" I had done it.

Slightly anti-climactically I then switched onto the normal mode and saw my time was 53:27, not 52:52 as expected! Evidently I had accidentally reset my virtual partner mid-race, which was how I had suddenly caught up so much. It didn't matter though and it had given me a reason to run the last 2k as hard as possible! I was given some water and a samosa and I collected my things. Then there followed a very cold, wet and muddy journey home. Luckily once I got there some hot tea and a long hot bath revived me!

This was a crazy, muddy experience but awesome fun. You're never going to get a PB on this course, particularly in wet and muddy conditions, but I would love to do it again next year nevertheless!

Watch read 6.10 miles and the time was 53:26, but the official time was one second slower. Very impressively there was a paper copy of the results pinned up by the sports pavilion by the time I collected my bag from the bag drop!

Splits and heart rates:

9:13, 152bpm
8:11, 161bpm
8:49, 171bpm
9:36, 178bpm
8:51, 179bpm
8:09, 180bpm
(6:28, 189bpm)