Well, here it is already - the start of the 2012 season, which meant a 1.40 drive down to Stratford Upon Avon on a freezing but sunny day to compete in my first race of the season - the ' Not The Roman IX', which is a 12km race put on by Stratford Upon Avon Running Club.
This was also the date of the UK Netrunner AGM, so there were a good 25 of my clubmates also entered into the race and competing for a 'handicap' trophy. My estimated finishing time had been calculated at 57.52 so I would have to be going some to win that !
We collected our timing chips and race numbers from the registration area and then after a warm up, made our way to the start which is about a kilometre away. I made my way to the centre of the field and found myself slap bang in the centre of a herd of netrunners !
We were sent on our way a little after 11am. My race plan was to run the first 10km in 49mins, which is just over a minute over my PB, and then run as fast as I could over the remaining 2km - which meant that I would have to run at a pace of 4.54m per km.
This was not a problem for the first five kilometres as although cold, the conditions were perfect and I found myself keeping the kilo splits within 4.54. At the start of mile five though there is a climb which is long and slow going and it was this that seriously ate into the good ground that I had made up in the prededing kilometres. However, once over the brow of the hill the course is then fast fast fast for a good while as you make your way downhill - it was here that I then made up some good time.The rest of the course remains flattish until the 10km mark, and a negative split for the first 10km definately occurred as I passed through in 47.55 (just 11 secs outside my 10k PB!).
The course then has a climb in the 11th kilometre but this is not as long or severe as the mid point climb and as a result of this I still had something left in the legs for a good final kilometre.
I managed to finish in 57.24 , a 10 minute improvement on last year, and a good top half of the field finish in a competitive club race.
