I’m paying my penance today for a hell of a lot of travel, and a late night on Saturday. Sore throat, streaming cold, and generally feeling sorry for myself. But what a late night it was. This time last year I wrote about watching the wonderful Night of the 10,000m PBs event on Parliament Hill athletics track - this year, I actually got to run in it.
This fantastic event, put on by Ben Pochee (who deserves a knighthood for services to athletics) comprises a series of 10k races - 25 laps of the track. From pedestrian pacers like myself through to the A races of the night, which stand as qualifying events for the World Athletics Championships, everyone is out there slogging their guts out round that 400m track. The crowd stands incredibly close, in lane three, cheering and drinking beer/ prosecco, and the atmosphere is electric. In times of dwindling attendances, Ben is showing that athletics can still be crowd-puller.
I’ve always been partly baffled and partly saddened by how relatively few runners actually seem interested in running as a sport. Do you ever get weekend five-a-siders or amateur golfers who don’t follow their own sports? I really feel people are missing out - and urge you not to channel hop if you catch an event on TV (you should be so lucky..) or if there a meeting near you, go and watch. Not least because as a runner, when you know your own pace, it gives you a whole new appreciation for what the pros can do.
Anyway, my own race was - I’m sorry to say - not exactly stellar - the combination of jet lag, lack of speed training and coming down with this bug led to a bit of a grim slog, a very long way outside a PB. But that’s entirely my own fault and I feel hugely privileged to have been part of this wonderful event, and hope to be able to do it more justice next year. A massive thank you to Ben for making this event happen, for all the cheers (specially whoever it was who kept making me laugh by shouting “Go the Guardian!”) and to running buddy on the night, Sarah. Oh and to Strava for the very cool socks in the runners goody bag ..
Over to you, guys! I’ve seen Jeet put in an amazing half marathon time for a man who was injured about 2 minutes ago, while MiniAsta lived up to the family motto, “Run Faster”.... As always, share your weekend triumphs and woes below the line.
