THE 10K.... A STORY OF DECLINE

   Nowadays the 10K distance is probably THE  DISTANCE we use to "assess" a runner's ability, because it's the distance we all commonly run. It's the distance 1500 track boys step up to a couple of times a year and half/full marathoners step down to for speed endurance.   It's certainly the perfect event for those with insufficient time to train for the longer events. I have had the pleasure (and heartache!) of working with several younger athletes and witnessed their dedication to improving  from well over 40 minutes to several minutes below.  For them breaking 40.00 for a 10K was like going under 3:00 for 26.2 miles; a very siginificant barrier to break through.  Emergence from jogger to runner you might say.
  The distance in the UK only really became prevalent in the 1980s.  New 10K events sprang up but several, like the previously mentioned Salford 7.5 were converted to the metric distance.
 So despite  first racing senior events in 1967 the first 10K I have recorded was one near to Toronto, Canada in 1983.   I ran 31.30 and have gone downhill ever since!   Unfortunately no improvement for me.....114 under 40 minutes ....126 run.....but sadly I never improved that first effort!
  I think mainly because like so many others in the 1980s I never specialised and focussed. I was never really any more than a "good club runner" and as such was versatile from 10K through to a marathon. Rarely out of the first 10 in local races, winning the occasional one but I didn't make county level again in a particular event and as such was happy to race whatever came next so to speak.   But quite obviously running so many marathons ....5 in 1982, 4 in 1983, 5 in 1984, 3 in 1985....  I was hardly likely to hone my speed to improve my 10K and 5K times.  If only for the reason that most of the speed work was endurance based e.g  5/6 times a mile.
 That Blackpool Marathon in 1988 (2:36) was really my last real effort at the distance. I ran London in 1994
(2:56) by invitation (Asics) and Amsterdam in 1998 similarly (2.:50) (not too bad for 49), thanks Adidas, but
hardly full blown efforts. By this time, not having to slot in runs in excess of 20 miles helped me preserve speed for the shorter distances but of course at over 40 I was then struggling against Father Time. 
  So whilst I never improved that initial effort I am most proud of having run 34.58 at the age of 50for 1st M50 at Salford in 1999. A drop of just 3,5 minutes in 16 years. When of course marathons had become very much a thing of the past!  Sometimes we have to stand back and decide the distance we are best built for or suited to.  You never know you might be running marathons when 1500 meteres is your best event! In my case I just decided, rightly or wrongly , that I was not going to improve on my best marathon time over the age of 40 and decided instead to try to preserve my speed.
  I predict that Sunday will be my 126th failed attempt at improving my 10K time as I run the distance for the 127th time at Great Langdale in the Lake District.  It's the spring version of the December race I ran in  2009.   It will be quite a contrast from the suburban Salford 10K on Good Friday
  The Gt. Langdale organiser writes that..."You don't realise how very fortunate you are to be allowed to run in this most beautiful valley in Englandshire(!?)
                                                             Do you agree?

Sticklebarn Tavern ..race H.Q and start and finish point.

Out (and back ) through Chapel Stile

                                                                                                                                                                                         

Past the Britannia Inn at Elterwater 

                                                                     and to the finish

Has the edge on Salford for beautiful scenery but I did enjoy the after race shower in the leisure centre on Good Friday!   Have a good weekend all, particularly those of you who are racing against Chris Hoy on his bike in Edinburgh.

.  Try not to breathe in too much  icelandic volcanic dust!