The first ever Llanelli 10 was run along the picturesque Millennium Coastal Path. With such fantastic scenery, a reasonably flat course and good organisation, I expect the number of participants to grow steadily from the 250 or so who turned up this weekend. Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable event.
If only my performance had lived up to the setting! A friend of mine had laid down the gauntlet and challenged me to run this at 4:00/km pace (which would make 1:04:22). I knew I had it in me and so attacked the race from the off, hitting my first two mile splits in a steady but comfortable 6:18 and 6:26.
Thereafter, as I'd suspected, the weather came into play. The mistake I made was trying to maintain my pace against the headwinds, which turned out to be a pretty futile task. My split times dropped to 6:34, 6:39, 6:41, eventually bottoming out at 6:51 for mile 8. By that point I was really frustrated. Through sheer doggedness I managed to regain some kind of form and ran the final two miles in 6:35 and 6:34 respectively. My official finish time was 1:06:25 (the course also came up a couple of hundred yards long on my Garmin). I crossed the line with mixed emotions.
Positives:
- This was a PB performance (I hadn't run a 10-mile race for quite a while).
- I dug deep and finished relatively strong.
- I know that, if I play it right, I can better this performance at the Bath Half Marathon in three weeks' time. Bring it on!
Official results here. My Garmin data here.
Distance: 10.00 miles (Garmin: 10.08 miles)
Position: 29 of 250
Avg pace: 6m 39s / mile (Garmin: 6m 35s / mile)
Conditions: Windy, 7°C
No comments:
Post a Comment