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Hatfield Broad Oak 10k
Monday 25th May 2015
Christof Schwiening
After the Saffron Strider's Newport Kevin Henry I am surprised that anyone from C&C had the legs for a 10K - let alone a hilly course with a brutally fast field of runners. But, I was wrong - Kevin, Fergie, Tim, Chris, Steve, Ian, Karen and I turned up at Broad Oak for what looked like a street party. The village was closed in our honour and the pot-holes (largely) filled. I was not looking forward to this. My legs were trashed and the only reason I started was that the figure of 8 allowed me an opportunity to pull out of the race discretely at 5km. Kevin, Fergie and I started together towards the front having wrestled the sandbag out of Kevin's hands. The gun went off and I messaged-down to the legs for power. For just a few kms they responded, but it was not smooth. By about 3.5 km Kevin was a small dot on the horizon - visible only by the gentle trail of sand he was leaving behind. Fergie then came past just as my calf muscles decided that they had had enough. I was heel striking up hill with runners passing by me I was desperate to try and keep Fergie in view. Going through the village I failed to find a quiet spot to pull out of the race and stop - and so had to continue with my heels crashing down on the tarmac - it was not long until the feeling left my right foot. It was, frankly, a relief to no longer feel the pain. At least being only 10km the end was not that far away, I glanced at my watch and knew that there was little point in putting in much more effort. The 9km marker appeared and the course continued downhill, then turned right into the village centre towards the finish.....Kevin had managed a minor positive split, a massive PB but had narrowly missed out on a 35-something. I too managed a minor PB, with a 1 min positive split, but collected another funny walk for my post-race collection - I am looking forward to using it tomorrow.
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