Following my first ever organised race at the Brighton 10K in 2009 I returned back to the same course to take part in the 2010 Brooks Brighton 10K on the 21st November. My initial aim for this years event had been to lower my personal best and run under 50 minutes but my objective was blown out of the water by a knee injury I sustained whilst surfing in Cornwall back in August. I thought that the injury had healed after a reasonably long break from both running and karate but after several weeks of training the injury flared up again so I was unable to run in the weeks leading up to the Brighton 10K. However, I was still determined to take part, no matter what finish time I achieved, so once again I made the drive down to Brighton. This year I made the journey by myself and Mrs Dan and The Son elected to stay at home in the warm rather than cheer me on in the cold (which to be honest was a very sensible decision).
With the company I work for basing an office in Brighton it meant that there were 4 work colleagues (or ex-colleagues) also running so there was an element of competition this year. Last year I made the mistake of starting quite far back, which caused me problems as I wasted time and energy weaving through slower runners ahead of me, so this year I forced myself nearer to the start line. Unfortunately I was so intent on avoiding slow runners that I went off at too fast a pace and by the time we had looped back to the start (around the 3k mark), I was feeling a tad worn out and had to force myself to slowdown before I keeled over.
I settled myself down and with the help of my Garmin watch I slowed down to a more sustainable pace along the Brighton seafront. With the lack of running in the weeks leading up to the race I knew that my target of sub 50 minutes was now out of the question so it was just a case of making it to the end in a respectable time and enjoying the run. Last year the run took place is the calm period of a heavy storm that was hitting the south coast so the wind was not ideal but this year the conditions were near perfect. The Brighton Pier was soon in sight again and I managed a sprint for the last 200m and was soon across the finish line to collect my finishers medal.
This year the runners chip was on the rear of the number sheet rather than a separate device fitted to the shoe so moving through the finish area was a lot easier. The official timing was also sent by SMS to my mobile and I had received it by the time I arrived back at my car:
- Category: Senior Men
- Category Position: 481/ 655
- Gender Position: 1009 / 1458
- Gun Time: 54m14s
- Chip Time: 53m17s
- Chip Position: 1402 / 2461
So once again I enjoyed running the Brighton 10k although I was disappointed that my training was disrupted in the weeks leading up to the race so I was unable to clock a time under 50 minutes. I also fell behind most of my work colleagues so was 4th out of the 5 runners in our little group. I hope to be back for the 2011 event and this time we may try and organise our small group to all start at the same point so we make things a little interesting with a race within the race.
