I’d never heard of the Lichfield
10K run until it came up in a search for races in Staffs during the autumn. I
was looking for an on-road 10K race, hoping to beat my Super Six time, and have
got friends in Lichfield so signed up.
It was a reasonably early start,
I left Sandbach at 8.30 with 2 kids in the car looking
forward to a day out
with their friends, but we easily got down to Lichfield with time to spare
before the 10.30 start. The meeting area was on the playing fields shared
between a sports centre & 2 schools, and registration in the school was
well manned. There was also quite a big crowd to cheer us off, helped by the
fact that there’s a 2K family fun run which starts straight after the main race.
The fact that it was a warm and sunny day also helped (if you remember the one
warm weekend we had this autumn – that was it!). The starting area was well
organised and helped everyone get moving very quickly, there were signs up to
show people where to start depending on their finish time, chip times to
encourage slower runners not to start too far forward, and we were out on a
main road running downhill within the first 100 yards. I tried not to think too
hard about the fact that we’d be coming back up the hill at the end.The first half race runs out of the town along a straight main road then a straight country lane. There aren’t any big hills, but it’s constantly up and down gentle slopes rather than flat. At the half way water stop I was running reasonably well but feeling the heat. I was also wondering why I decided to enter a race that was straight after my 2 week holiday with virtually no training! The route then turned round & ran back along a twisty country lane, and into a new housing estate on the outskirts of the town. It turned into a bit of a mystery tour at that point, as there were a few detours through cul-de-sacs and the footpaths between them before we came back out onto the main road. There were plenty of spectators out in the sun, watching and encouraging the runners all the way, but the heat was getting to us all and the zig-zagging course wasn’t helping anyone’s time. And the last half mile, running uphill back into the playing field (past my ‘friend’ with his Iphone camera ready to put the pictures straight onto Facebook) and on to the finish line at the top of the hill put paid to any hope of a PB. At least there was a decent goody bag to help me recover, with water, chocolate, fruit and a technical T-shirt designed by the organiser’s 11 year old daughter!
My finishing time was 41:41, a
minute slower than PB. Although I later found out that at least one runner had
passed out in the heat so I shouldn’t be too disappointed.
Would I run it again? My kids
have challenged their friend to the 2K run next year so I may not have much
choice! It’s not the fastest course, but well organised & well supported. If
I go down next year I’ll probably run it again.
For more information visit the Lichfield 10k website.
Martin
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