St Pat's 10K Holyoke -- Sat. Mar. 19

Leave home about 10:30, needing to park and get bib, etc. Drive straight there and park in the usual spot, almost exactly; walk down to the Wherehouse, well wrapped up (fleece!) as it's a cold morning. See Nick, and then Bill too on the way back; lots of people, of course. Back to car, change into race shoes and head off into upper Holyoke in search of a DnD for coffee and loo. After over a mile, no joy, but a Subways. Nice loo, and even coffee but food choices as hopeless as usual. Settle for a dry bread roll (crappy bread) to go with the coffee. Then backtrack and change into full gear at car; jog off for a bit more distance before one more portaloo visit (long lines -- the crowds are really out this year) and then to the start. Total 3.21 miles @ 28:33 before resetting clock.

*Hopeless* mob at the start -- just give up, and eventually find a place a good way back. Nice and warm in the huddle, with well coiffed and made-up ladies all around, hardly a running runner in sight. Finally the gun: can't see any movement, but stand on tiptoes and see heads near the front bobbing up and down, so it's started. Nearly 20 seconds later, we finally start to move, shuffle shuffle, cross the line eventually and then jog with the crowd, looking for spaces to move up. After about three minutes of dodging and darting into gaps, finally starting to be able to move properly, but the first mile takes 7:13, about a minute slower than it should. Oy.

After that, things get better. Taking it carefully with the three uphill-ish miles, steadily move forward, spotting Nick in the third mile and saying hi before moving ahead again (he's in good form and happy); 6:46, then 6:35, then 6:30, and it's downhill time. Still moving quite steadily up: as the crowd thickens and gets noisy, pull a 5:41 then into the last full mile confident that numb leg will not be a problem. Mile 6 is a 5:57 (chap calls out, "you can get under 40:00!" -- not so sure. . .), and I'm just happy the end is near: that last turn is a relief and a horror as I see the last hill, but make a go for it and get one or two more places, then tank, but enough momentum and determination to get to the end before running right out of steam. 40:15 or so, and then I heave, twice, but then recover quite quickly. Pretty happy, and turn to wait for Nick, who's not far behind, then meet up w/ Bill, and also SteveO, Joe F, Rob L, and some others. All in good cheer!

Decide to do a cooldown w/ Bill and Nick, and chap from Granby; down by the canal and up again, then Nick peels off, and after a bit I decide to as well, since my car's in a different direction. Take a while finding it and finding how to get back to it, clocking up 2.08 miles @21:22. Total for the day:

Time: 1:30:10
Distance: 11.56 miles
Pace: 7:48s

Comment: *official* time for the 10K was 40:17, but that was GUN time; my NET time was a dramatic 39:26 = WAAAY better than my previous best of 39:55 on the same course in 2009. I'll take it.