Time/Position: 61.45 (41st from 247 [2nd V55])
With the cancellation of the border league, I immediately initiated 'plan b' and headed north for this long-established 10 miler. It has been quite some time (maybe almost a decade) since I last did a proper 10 mile road race, and I wanted to see whether I could put down a decent V55 time. As such, this was an adequate performance that probably reflects my current speed and fitness. In my heart of hearts I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain sub-6 minute mile pace for long, so breaking the hour seemed unlikely. On reflection, 6.10 pace probably isn't too bad in the circumstances. My PB is 58.20, set at Wrexham in 2012, and I obviously wasn't thinking in those terms! I went off a bit fast, still wondering whether a sub-hour was on the cards, and undoubtedly paid for that later. I realised the danger at 5k, however, and knocked it back a bit, going through the first five mile lap in 30.30. It was quite a pleasant circuit from Hutton south-west of Preston, along some lanes via Walmer Bridge to a big track down the side of the Longton bypass, which wasn't quite so pleasant! Conditions were perfect: fairly cold and sunny with a light breeze, and the circuit is quite flat. It was bit frustrating to have to concede I will probably never go under the hour again, but at least this was a club record and should get me fairly comfortably into the North Wales all-time top 10 in the category. It combined with the Lancashire Championships, so it was a strong field of serious runners with lots of quick veterans competing.
