Report By Eric
It’s crazy how goals change in running from week to week month to month or in the case of Caerphilly 10km year to year.
I first booked on to Caerphilly 10km back in February of 2020. I heard about it though my sister and as I was looking for a sub 40 minute course, I thought it would be a good one to race at. Roll on 2 years and after many attempts to put the race on through the different stages of the pandemic I finally arrived on Saturday evening after a long day ready to go after a time alot faster than 40 minutes.
I woke at 6 on Sunday, went down to the kitchen and had my usual short course breakfast – 3 slices of toast with banana and honey on top and the first of a couple of black coffees. After breakfast I got changed in to my race kit, pinned on my number, had my second coffee then jumped in the car to the start line for about 9. On the way there my sister asked what I was hoping for I said sub 34 will be the main goal and then I jokingly said a top 20 position.
After parking up in a back alley as all the car parks were full, we made our way the the start line for a good position to watch from. After getting a good spot I laced up and went for a 2 mile warm up down to ASDA and back taking in km 2 to 3. On my way back to the start the 2km race was going on with some really quick young runners doing well just after that I saw Donna Morris from Builth & District Running Club warming up, knowing she would be looking to podium.
After warming up I made my way to the starting pens and waited for what felt like a long time. Just before they opened up the main gate to get to the the start line someone opened a gate to the side and alot of us went through this side gate to get a better start position. I managed to get just behind some of the eventual podium finisher’s. From here it was a quick briefing then a countdown from 10.
The gun went off and it was a very fast start – in the region of 4.30 minute mile pace, something I don’t think anybody maintained for much longer than a couple of minutes but it got us up the hill at the start. Then a quick flat bit to a steep decent that rounded out the first mile before flattening out.
From here on out the groups of runners started to form. The front 4 were a group, then a few seconds back a group of 6, then a further 10 seconds back a group of about 10 – this is where I settled into once we got over the speed of the first mile and on to the flat.
Not much can be said about the next 5 km, the front groups opened up leads and the overall pace of the group I was in slowed down a little. There where a couple of lads that caught up and joined us at the 5 km mark and a Swansea Harriers lad from the second group had pulled off to the side. Coming up to the hairpin at 7 km was a water station where I grabbed a bottle and used it to cool off, that’s where I saw Donna looking in control and on for a podium.
As we entered the 8km mark the group had dissolved and it was all about pushing on for the final 2km I knew I still had a little more in the tank so I stared to up the pace and get on to the back of 3 or 4 runners in front of me. This definitely worked in my favour. As I rounded the corner on to the hill I put on a big kick and overtook 3 by the time I got to the turn by spoons and focused on catching the lad in front. By the time I got on to the final downhill in to the final 400m I put everything I had into catching and overtaking this runner and I did with 200m to go, but he then kicked down and we crossed the line with in 3 thousands of a second taking 16th and 17th.
Once I regained my breath back and took stock of what just happened I realized I had broken my pb by about 30 seconds which I was super proud of making me super confident that I can go sub 34 in the near future. After waiting for a few minutes I congratulated Donna on her 3rd place then headed to get my medal and t shirt on the way back to see my sister. She was shocked by how well I did and it wasn’t long after that we got the results of me finishing in the top 20 result – something I didn’t think was possible and something that gives me a lot of pride that the training I do is making me a better runner for myself but also the club.
