This morning was the Exeter First Chance 10K, which is the first race that is a part of the Teignbridge Trotters Club Championship for 2014. Yesterday (Saturday) I was really thinking that the race would be called off as a sponsor posted the below picture which is part of the course.
However, late on Saturday the organisers posted that the race would be going ahead but at a later start time to miss the worst of the high tide.
I got to the start area this morning and it was annouced that the course would be changed, but it wouldn't be exactly 10K. The organisers had said this would happen if it was particularly flooded, so I was expecting it anyway and my Garmin showed exactly 6 miles. The ground was fine with no mud or really large puddles, but it was obviously very wet. However, there were some really strong headwinds for a lot of the course and it was raining quite hard. I don't overly mind the rain, but the wind was tough. The profile of the course is as flat as you can get though, so that is one positive.
Anyway, after last week's 10K which I averaged 7:04 min/mile I had hoped to go off at 7 min/mile pace today with aim of seeing if I could sneak a PB if it had been a full course. However, the first bit of the race was into a headwind so I couldn't do that and just ran to feel. My mile splits were 7:11, 7:12, 7:09, 7:26, 7:03 and 6:52, which is an average of 7:09, and a time (according to my Garmin so not official yet) of 42:54. It does mean that even if the course had been a full 10K I wouldn't have PB'd, but I'd say that is to be expected for the conditions so I'm quite pleased really.
Running as part of the club championship added another dimension to the race for me as well, and if I stay injury free and can complete it I think I'm going to enjoy it. I overtook 4 club mates and had a 5th in my sights but couldn't catch him, and no one from my club overtook me today. It's all friendly competition but I think I'm going to enjoy that part of it. The next race is next weekend which is an 11 mile (approx) off road which I will struggle with in comparison to today, but I'll just do my best I don't expect to come anywhere in the championship at the end of the year, but it means I'm going to do some different races which is what I'm looking forward to.
Killerton parkrun
My wife and I did Killerton parkrun yesterday and the organisers has warned to expect mud! My wife had bought a pair of trail shoes earlier in the week and this was the first time she would be trying them out, and she really enjoyed it and said the shoes helped a lot. It was the worst conditions I've seen at the parkrun but I enjoyed, as did everyone else. I slipped and slid around in 24:08 and although I found it tough it was a nice little limbering up session for the 10K today.
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