Hatfield Broad Oak 10k Monday 25th May 49min 24sec
I looked a
couple of weeks ago and there wasn't much on offer locally so i
decided on this one...Hatfield, that's not far is it? Isn't
there a Galleria, shopping etc there, yeas, that's fine. Booked
it and then last night thought I'd have a look and see where to
drive, erm, whoops, it's a different Hatfield, 62 miles each
way, oh dear! Well, I'd paid so I may as well race. Slightly
cloudy with intermittent light showers, this mornings conditions
were pretty good. As I approached to park I could see the planes
coming and going from the very close by Stansted airport, that's
how far away it was from home!!
Parking was in a lumpy old field, great fun powering across it
in my car. All the marshals had bright pink hi vis on, very
fetching. Hatfield Broad
Oak is a lovely little village, nice church in the centre, they
had a fete on with food and cakes and plants for sale, the start
and finish both in the centre too, lovely!
Soon we
were on the start line, it was chipped so I stood in the 50min
area (there were over 1200 runners!) we were off, the course was
a figure of eight, fairly undulating and very pretty. I set of
at a good pace and was feeling pretty happy, the km markers
passed quickly and I noted 24 mins on my watch at 5 k, hmm I
wonder if i could keep the pace up? We ran back through town
and out for the second loop of the eight, it was getting tough
until 7k when I saw a sign saying it was all downhill for the
remaining three, fantastic, I powered on and started watching my
garmin quite closely. I really fancied sub 50 at this point and
knew it was in reach! The last km was full of potholes but the
support was immense, it seemed the whole village was out waving
and clapping. I reached the finish line with nothing else to
give. 49 mins 24 sec. Checking my records I then discovered this
was a new 10k PB, marvellous, I haven run a sub 50 for a couple
of years! Made my day. A great village race, well supported,
nice t shirt...just a bit far away really! A good end to a
cracking bank holiday weekend.