Wollaton Park 10K

Today I returned to the scene of my first ever 10k for my 6th leg of my #2014_10kChallenge.

To be honest I've given up on chasing that sub 50 time since signing up for the Marathon, if it happens it happens, I have bigger fish to fry.  But today's effort on an undulating course gives me hope that there may be a sub 50 10k in me.

I wasn't really expecting a PB or anything today, I was just going with the flow, if I felt good after the uphill start I had every chance.  The Wollaton Park 10k is set in parkland surrounding the famous hall that some of you may know as Wayne Manor from the latest Batman movie.  It's not a flat course but neither is it very hilly, undulating describes it well.

When I ran here in 2012 on my first ever 10k I set a time of 52:35 which until today stood for those 2 years as my PB over 10km.  I set off up the hill from the start line at a reasonable pace and descended the first drop rapidly, at 1k only 4:10 had passed.  I knew I couldn't keep this up but it felt good, the second kilometer was covered in similar time.  Then the biggest climb came at 3k, that knocked the pace down a little, but at the halfway point I was something like 24:20.  A sub 50 on the cards?

No, I was sure I wasn't going t o make it as I'd hit the first 5k hard to give myself a shot at the PB, I just had to hang in there now to go under the two year old record.  And that I did, the second lap of 5k was hard but with a good time on the cards I kept going.  The last kilometer cam  and I knew I had to run it in less than 6 minutes for a PB, it was in the bag, just get to the line.  I stopped my Garmin on 51:10 but when the results came through I had a chip time of 51:07, and new PB!

As usual this was a well organised event put on by Bluecoats school who neighbour the park.  I'll be back next year.