…and I don’t need any more, stark German film noirs and I could well do without the hand-clapping sequence at the end of Blockbusters

It’s been a while since I blogged, work getting in the way etc. My build up to the Sefton Park 5 mile continues, I done a good sessions incorporating the Halewood 5k and a few Mystery 5k’s too. I’m planning to get around 5:40 mile pace for Sefton Park and hit that spot on Halewood and was a little bit quicker for the Mystery. The Halewood 5k is a flat trek around the loop line and if the conditions are right (it was really wet when I ran it) it will be a super quick run. I ended up doing around 17:40 and stayed out doing a few more loops with Mitch from PLS then a quicker 5k solo.

The following day was the PLS 10k that I helped marshall. The conditions were very challenging for racer and organisers, the PLS committee were out the night before clearing paths and puddles only to find the course had massive puddles on again. Thankfully, a few drops aside, the rain stayed away for the race but there was strong head wind for the first few km’s of the race but that didn’t put off over 300 runners who turned out for the vent.

The race itself was contested by Richie Burney from the Liverpool Harriers and Nathan Kilcourse from Salford Harriers. Despite muddy trail sections and a stiff headwind for the opening third of the race, there was a new course record as Richard Burney bettered the time of his Liverpool Harriers club mate John McCole by 20 seconds. Burney opened a gap on Salford’s Nathan Kilcourse over the final two kilometres and eventually triumphed by 24 seconds in a time of 33:39.

I always enjoy watching races, and manning the water station was good laugh, I’m sure the runner appreciated the encouragement from all the gang on our station and watch the effort put in by all the runners made me want to race!

I’d underlined a mile race on the track that’s part of the Wirral Endurance series, hosted at the Bebington Oval, famous for its starring role as the Colombes Olympic Stadium in Paris for the multi Oscar winning epic Chariots of Fire. The cinder track has thankfully been replaced by a modern tartan track but the old stand remains, the wooden benches pock marked by a centuries runners not removing their spikes!

The mile on the track is a classic distance that I’ve always fancied having a go at. Lets face it, being an athletic nobody, opportunities such as these are few a far between so I wanted to make sure I was well prepared. I wanted to run sub 5 mins which I knew I was capable of. This meant averaging 74 second laps, which considering my best 3k was 9:58 was going to be tough. I’d read a few opinions on warm up/preparations and settled on doing a slow jog for 3 miles, stretch, then an ‘activation’ run of 300 metres at 74 sec lap pace, followed by a few 30m strides.

The mile itself is usually split into two races with the 1st heat containing runners between 5.30 and 4.30 but as only 22 runners in total we were all put into the same race. With it being local, I knew a load of the runners in the race, the favourite being Lee Jones who’s the same vintage as me but that’s where the similarity ends! Lee’s a top draw runner and similar standard to Stu Doyle who I train with in work. Lee’s got a stronger track background than Stu and defo got the edge over the shorter stuff, running plenty of sub 2 minute 800’s as a V40, so, I was confident I wasn’t going to get the V40 Prize!

The race got underway and was a real cavalry charge in the first corner. I wanted to get away for the first 200 as quick a possible but it was so congested I ended up running wide for about 600m. Sion Wynne-Williams, one of the young lot from Tony Clarkes group at the Harriers got off to a flyer. I’d considered tagging on to Sion but the fact he’s another sub 2 min 800-er put me off. He seemed to be a mile off me as I passed the 400 bang on schedule. Eventually the field spread out so I had the inside line and plenty of room o stretch my legs if necessary. I felt great all the way and despite missing the split time at the bell I hit knew with 300m to go I had the sub 5 in the bag, finishing with a respectable 4:58. Lee Jones smashed his own PB by 5 seconds to win the race in 4:28.

I was back on the track on Tuesday with Dave Evans group, doing 10 x 2 mins. This was the first time I’d felt ‘fit’ since before London, banging out 76 second laps with ease (well, kinda, I went the bog and lost my rhythm!). I’m not alone, Martin and James are flying at the moment and Nige who I think of as the tribal elder, seems to have re kindled his racing mojo with some great performance of late. I’m going to have a rest after the weekend leading up to Sefton Park, I’ll still run but nothing hard. Roll on the 18th