I had no real expectation of how to play it, what it would feel like to clip off 25 laps and how this would play on my mind, but in the end I loved it.
In the weeks leading up to the race it was clear nobody was going to do anything to promote it. It was billed as the Herts and Beds County Championships, but this meant little if nobody knew the race was on. I noticed it was an 8.30pm start - this was ideal as the wind would more likely drop and the day, if warm, would turn mild.
We used facebook and eightlane to get some awareness out there and some enquiries came in. As it was entry on the day it was difficult to get concrete entrant details, but in the end Matt Janes, Darren Deed (Bedford & County), Aaron Scott (Notts), John Gilbert (Kent), Kev Mason (Brighton) and myself were on the start line. Of those six only Janesy and Kev Mason had ever run over 10,000m on the track before.
In the days leading up to the event I had spent two nights in a tent in the pissing rain in Norfolk and a night out watching Beady Eye. These three nights had saw me drink gallons of lager as I fancied some downtime. I wasn't feeling too much like an athlete for this one.
As anticipated the weather was ideal - 18 degrees and not a breath of wind. All warmed up and spiked up we took our marks in a field of about 15 and got things underway.
My first lap felt slow but I was eager to keep things under control and to be fair was not too far behind Deed, Scott, Janes and Gilbert. This was the same through the first km split of 3:10. I was still close to the lead group and wanted to go quicker.
My next km was 3:03 and I felt back on track. In fact, I was feeling pretty good and enjoying my first 25 lapper. I was within range of the leaders, which included two sub 30 men on the road.
My next two km splits were 3:08 and I hit the half way in 15:37, feeling I could up it over the second half. I had hoped to run near to 31:00 here, with the plan to go quicker at the BMC Birmingham Uni race next month.
The next km was 3:07 and I noticed the lead group had upped their game and Janesy had fallen off them. He still seemed a fair way ahead, over 100m. I knew he had been struggling a bit following a disappointing 5000m and didn't really want to catch him as he's my mate and catching him meant he was having a bad day. Over the next km (3:09) that's exactly what happened. I seemed to catch him quickly.
As I moved alongside with about 3400m to go I admit it felt I was going to go past quite decisively as he had slowed a great deal, but as I passed him he latched on and we were together. I had caught him but wasn't about to run on alone and had company for the first time in the race.
The next 2km were the slowest of the race and in hindsight I may have backed off once I had caught Janesy, or possibly had put an effort in to catch him and was having a breather. Possibly I just showed a lack of bottle to really go for it.
Into the last km and we upped the pace. I knew regardless of his condition he would be able to beat me if we were together at the bell because my four year old daughter could (my finish isn't my strong point).
We ran down the straight and took the bell just as Aaron Scott and Darren Deed were finishing neck and neck behind us (nice to avoid getting lapped). Aaron took it in 30:14 - which was a big jump for him. I obviously didn't see this but by all accounts it was a close finish, the classic 'thickness of a vest'.
My last km was 3:03 and I clocked an official 31:22.2. Matt got me by a couple of strides but I wasn't too concerned. This was always going to be a race to experience the distance before another crack at it next month in Birmingham. After that it's marathon training all the way for Toronto and that cherished England vest.
The official results of the top 6 :
Aaron Scott (Notts AC) 30 mins 14.5 secs
Darren Deed (Bedford & County) 30 mins 14.7 secs
John Gilbert (Kent AC) 30 mins 22.8 secs
Matt Janes (Bedford & County) 31 mins 19.8 secs
James Lawler (Bedford & County) 31 mins 22.2 secs
Kev Mason (Brighton & Hove) 32 mins 42.3 secs
Monday 4 July - 16.6 miles at 6:18 pace - hot but felt good after yesterday's race
T - AM 6.1 easy, PM 5.7 easy
W - AM 6 miles warming up/down, 6 x 1000m on track [90s jog] bloody windy on my birthday, last two really windy 2:59, 3:00, 2:57, 2:59, 3:00, 3:00, PM 5.5 off road easy
T - AM 5 miles easy, PM 7 miles steady then 6 x 100m strides
F - 10 mile tempo run winding it up to 5:21 pace
S - 15.1 miles very tired before leaving for camping
S - AM 6 miles from campsite tired 6:47 pace, PM 6 miles as this morning, very tired 6:35 pace
93.5 miles
M - rested
T - 6.4 miles 6:26 pace feeling rubbish
W - 6.4 miles feeling rubbish then 4 x 100 lethargic strides
T - AM 4 miles jog, PM 10,000m track race (31:22) with 5 miles of warming up/down