Portsmouth Lakeside 5k Race 5 28/08/2013

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

It was only a short local race so I wasn't sure if I should blog about it, what could possibly be interesting about a race that should last less than 20 minutes? As it turned out the race was quite eventful from start to finish.

The Portsmouth Lakeside 5k was the fifth race in the series. It attracts a lot of club runners and out of the 242 entrants Amanda Ware (Victory Vixen) and I were 2 of just 37 competitors unaffiliated with a club. This could only mean one thing, most of these runners are going to be good!

Nursing a tweaky groin I was sceptical about any kind of PB, plus it was an evening race which meant I felt sluggish and tired by the time we went to register at Hilsea Lido. My PB for 5k is an unofficial 19 minutes 25 Seconds (although I did have to stop the Garmin when I stopped at traffic lights, and I am pretty sure I could have hurled a lung up at the end of it) which meant sub 6 minute 20 second miles to beat it, I felt neither spritely enough nor in the right fitness frame of mind to deliver this performance so I settled on the old adage of just enjoying the race and anything under 21 minutes would be nice.

Only two things were really un-organised about the race, and both are only noted with the utmost of tongue planted firmly in cheek. The first was that new registration was met with only one pen to furnish an increasing crowded table of eager singlet wearing runners, with the start time looming, mouth frothing anxiety and twitchy bottomed impatience meant that the holy grail of pens was awaited like a drinks order at a packed bar. The problem finally resolved with the introduction of another pen, never before has a pen been met with a ripple of excited applause. The second un-organised thing was the start, again not the fault of the organisers really but you will understand why shortly.

So all signed up and numbers pinned on we all head to the start, official cheerers on and supporters for the night are Justine Bennett, Jessica Bennett and Nik Bone. It’s a beautiful evening and the sun is still warm but a nice cool breeze will make things comfortable for running. It’s not going to be the most scenic route in the world as it is run around the old IBM building, it will however be flat, hmmm perhaps I might get close to a PB after all.

The start is a packed sweaty affair, the usual odour of deep heat and athlete perspiration fills the air, and talk of ridiculously fast times chatters about. Looking around I try and settle in next to people of the same ilk, they are looking for about 22 minutes so I happily snuggle in the scrum and make sure the watch is ready to go. Mandy gets into the queue behind and we wait for the off.

Countdown from 5 and a Mexican wave of watch bleeps sounds out to an explosive start, this is where maybe slightly better organisation could have ensured there was no problems, the start line had a funneled effect rather than being spread out across the path, this meant that a lot of runners were trying to jostle for position at a very fast pace, this could only mean one thing, trip, fall, crash, luckily it wasn't me but the sound of knee’s hitting floor juddered through my ears. This wasn't solely the organisers fault as this final race in the series had attracted far more than the other races, and more than they had anticipated (probably hence pen-gate). I skipped and swerved past runners and trees until I found enough space to set off properly. It certainly felt fast, I had already decided I was going to go balls out and see where it got me, get a good first mile in and then let the other 2.1 miles tag along at the end.

So the first mile, I am already making noises like I am having some kind of attack, there are two lads in front of me and when I say lads I mean they are about 10 years old, I have a little giggle to myself because they have obviously gone off way to fast and there is no way they can maintain this pace. We weave in and out of buildings running on tarmac and occasional bridge wood, my watch beeps at the first mile and I glance down for my time, 6 minute 54 second mile, gutted, I thought the pace was a lot faster and I now know that it’s impossible to get anywhere near my PB, I glance again to make sure, it’s not 6.54, it’s 5.54! Bloody hell! This is by far the fastest mile I have ever ran and I actually feel ok, just two more miles and I can be set for greatness. The two kids ahead don’t seem to be tiring yet, but I make it my goal to catch up with them soon, surely they can’t run sub 6 minute miles for 5k.

The race is a strange one for me, there is no chatting or encouragement from my fellow runners, the reason is obvious, longer distances, and the people who run at my speed generally have time to have a chat because we are not busting a gut to get to the finish, here however everyone is running to the limit of their fitness. I feel sorry for the people around me who have to listen to the noises leaving my mouth, the only thing I can think of that is similar is when Richard Attenborough is filming from a beach where Walruses are mating, it kind of starts low but then ends high and breathless.

The second mile is coming up, I know I have slowed a little, and I still haven’t caught those bloody kids up yet, I clock the second mile at 6 minutes 23 seconds, I am well happy with that, it means another sub 6.30 mile and I will be close to my PB, spurred on I start to track down the abnormally fast nippers ahead, I have already succumbed to the idea that these kids are bloody good and haven’t gone off too fast at all, the energy and exuberance of youth makes me wish I continued running from their age, instead of giving up in my teens and starting again as a porky 15 stone 34 year old 3 years ago.  

My legs are getting weary now, lack of practice and not being match fit means I am waning a bit, I have a word with my legs (as I often do in races, ‘come on legs’ said repeatedly) and this boosts me for a while, I catch and overtake 2 or 3 people and as I get closer to the finish line, a sign approaches saying only 400 metres to go, just one lap of a track and I am home, I put another spurt on and realise I have gone way too early for a sprint finish, I slow down a bit just as a guy runs past pats my bum and says ‘come on’. Widening my stride I start bounding next to him, my sprint finish is going to be terrible as I have pretty much sprinted the whole race, I keep alongside as we near the finish line, I can see the Pittman/Ware support team ahead, shouting encouragement and commanding orders of a sprint, I persuade one last little bit of effort out of my weary pins and I cross the finish line. I stop my watch and don’t even look down to see the time as I half lie, half collapse on the grass.    

I think I could have stayed that way for a while, in fact I probably would have done if it wasn’t for the fact that I was being dry retched on from above by other finishers. I lift myself up check my time, I didn't look at my last mile as I only had a hundred metres or so to get to the finish line, it came in at 6.24 which made my total time an unofficial 19 minutes 16 seconds (later to updated on the website to 19 minutes 18 seconds), so that was it, I had set two PB’s in one night, fastest mile I have ever ran, and fastest 5k beating my old time by 6 seconds. I jog back to the girls and wait for Mandy, not long after, we spy her in the distance and shout her over the line in a great time of 26 minutes 45 seconds.

For anyone wondering about the nippers in the race, it looks like they finished in times of 17.42 and 18.44 now that is fast!

80^th out of 242 runners, or as I like to call it, the top third. Who knows, there could well be a sub 40 minute 10k lurking in these middle aged bones somewhere after all.