Another running year has ended and another year running has begun and, after limping my way through all of my Winter races, it was about time to test the heel in 2017.

Although not on the original plan, where I was to start the year at the 6 hour Cakeathon lap ultra, hmmm cake, I somehow got signed up, hmmm cake, for the Brixton 10K twice, once in a hot headed moment whilst on holiday over the festive period and I was also gifted an entry.

And, to be honest, I was never a fan of such a long gap between the Battersea Santa run and Cakeathon, hmmm cake. 5 weeks is a long time in love, and war, and a very long time between runs for someone who averages a race a fortnight for the last 5 years. And so I accepted the race entry gladly, deferred my purchased entry, thanks to the lovely people at RunThrough and hastened to Brockwell Park in Brixton on January 8th.

The Brixton 10K is a RunThrough race, and one of the few races they organise that I had not done before. I have run Bushy Park, Hyde Park, Battersea Park and Greenwich Park at their races, so it was about time I ran this one. It was held at Brockwell Park, that hosted my only ever Parkrun tourism, and would involve 3 hilly laps with the UKRUNCHAT peeps Carl, Jen, Melissa, Lee and Ciara with the plan being that Jen and I would run with Carl, hopefully pacing him to a New Year PB.

Route

This would be a 3 lap route, starting just along from the Lido, we would run along a flat straight before a short dip and then a long incline. Once at the top there was a turn and a lonnnnnger incline that we preferred to walk, or march later when I got my way, before a long downhill all the way to the gate. Here we turned up the steepest but shortest hill before a short flat and then back down again, passing the water table and onto the next lap. Repeat and rinse 3 times.

How we did

This run was all about Carl. Jen has a heel issue after her Christmas holiday and my PF has been much documented. Carl had a time target in mind, and we did too. But the course really was challenging. It was also the first time that Jen and I had paced someone and perhaps I was not very good at it. I was more just there jogging along rather than barking like a sergeant major and prompting US military style cadences. “I wanna be a Bake Off winner, I wanna eat all my cake.”

And in the end we did finish a couple of minutes slower than Carl’s PB, but we finished together and healthy (ish) on what turned out was a very hilly route for what it was.

So well done to Carl and Jenni for this, based on the hilly time I had no doubt there will be PBs this year at this distance – probably in the next race. It was also lovely of Melissa to hang around until the end to see us and it is always great to see Lee, Ciara, and Matty Wood from RunThrough.

The Bling

Bespoke, as always with RunThrough. The Jamaican flag ribbon is a nice touch, seeing as we are in Brixton, and the guys at RunThrough like to make an effort with the medals. They evolve over the years and the original medals grow in size and complexity. I like it, although I do not have a medal rack to put it on as am waiting on SA Medal Hangers to send me the 100 bling monster I ordered before Christmas.

 

In Summary

It is always good to see the peeps. I had not met Melissa before and hadn’t seen the lovely Ciara for ages, or Lee since Beachy Head marathon. But this was all about the Carl-Jen-Darren show. Carl’s 10K PB was achievable I thought, and maybe on a good day, later in the year it would be at Brockwell, but the park is quite hilly, as you can see from Carl’s elevation chart. So to get 1 hr 30 was good going, only 2 mins outside of his PB, and am sure he’ll mash it this year. But for me this was an easy training run, 40 mins slower than normal and a tester for my heel. How does the heel feel at the moment? A little sore but not enough to make me limp. The Strasbourg Sock and heel drops seem to be working.

As far as the race went:

WOULD I RUN THE BRIXTON 10K again? No

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? Sure, I always recommend the Runthrough races for the support of the organiser, the enthusiasm and the bling.

NEXT UP: Cakeathon 6 Hour Lap Ultra (Hmmmmm cake)