A good day out in Hatfield Broad Oak not to be mixed with Hatfield in Hertfordshire (I wondered why the Sat Nav displayed 60min to destination). The race which is part of the annual village festival and is a closed road course was full of runners and supporters. The course was tough and although overcast the weather was very humid. I managed a time of 35:40 (Chip Time) and came home in 17th place.

Running Number: 538
Gun Position: 17
Gun Time: 00:35:43
Chip Position: 17
Chip Time: 00:35:40

The race started well with the first K being a quick 3:20. Then the following being 3:27, 3:28, 3:30, 3:31,3:34 then the wheels came off and the early pace killed me 3:49,3:54. The last 2k was an improvement in 3:40 and 3:25. Here are the Garmin Stats of the day !

I’d entered the Manchester BUPA 10k as I’d read that the course was very quick. Luckily HSBC had some reserve places and I was lucky to be given a entry to the race. The week prior to the race my HSBC T-Shirt arrived but still no chip from BUPA. This was a slight concern but on arriving home on Tuesday the envelope had arrived with my number and I was good to go. I arrived in Bury on Saturday afternoon whilst travelling with the family to stay at a friends house listening to the FA Cup final (with the bizarre rendition of the national anthem). I relaxed and was given some northern food (Cottage Pie) to prepare me for the race with a nice glass of red wine. In the morning I was very relaxed which is unusual for myself prior to the race. I travelled to Manchester for the race on the tram and the city was backed with runners (an estimate of 40,000).

I was in the orange wave which had an assembly time of 9am and start time of 10:34. I decided to arrive around 10am as the weather was cold and damp and I just didn’t fancy standing for an hour prior to the race. This meant that I would be about 100m from the start as the gun started the main race with race winner, Haile Gebrselassie. The first km was hard as many people would be going at a pace comfortable for themselves and some even walking after a 100m. I must have passed around 2,000 people in the first 1km and this was the quickest part of the race and in hindsight not great to a well paced race. I carried on running trying to match a set pace of 3:30/km. The race was harder than expected as no packs formed at a pace I wanted to run at and until 7km I ran on my own. I finally found a runner from Brazil that ran at the same pace as me and we both pushed towards the end. He was stronger than me and I pushed to the line and felt the world collapse around me, but I had finished in a PB of 35:28 and 107 out of 40,000 runners. My family and friends had also been watching on BBC and whilst Haile Gebrselassie was being interviewed I finished the race in the background, I guess that’s the closest I’ll ever get to Haile shoulder!!!

Flitwick 10k, April 2011

Overall Position : 8th out of 821
Overall Time : 35:48

In a busy weekend of sport that included the Grand National, I ended up running in the Flitwick 10k. I managed to run a PB on the course and distance of 35:48. In my first race over the distance, I finished a superb 8th overall out of more than 800 competitors in what is just the beginning of a series of 10k events that I’ll be entering over the coming weeks and months, including races in Manchester and Hatfield. The weather was fantastic and I managed to run at a pace that was comftable for me, the terrain was hilly and not flat but I enjoyed the odd hill. I was joined by the family and Beca and Catrin enjoyed their breakfast of Candy Floss !

Raced today in Fred Hughes 10 in St Albans the weather was kind (windy at times) and no rain or ice to report after Buntingford being called due to weather. The race went well for me as I managed a PB at the distance at 01:01:58 beating my previous record by a minute and a half. Helen Decker (GB Marathon Runner) also ran. I was placed 22nd Overall from a field of 702. Planned to run around 6:05 to around 6:10 but went off a bit too quick so will learn to add pace judgement to my race running.

http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/results/Fred%20Hughes%2010/562

Garmin Details Below :
Fred Hughes 10 – St Albans by fordcon at Garmin Connect – Details.

We’ll it was the first cross country of the year in Round 4 of this year’s cross-country championship in Watford on Sunday.

The course was a challenging 5 mile course, held in Cassiobury Park, Warford. I recorded a time of 35:20 and 17th place overall out of the 265 athletes that took part. I started off slower than normal to try and pace myself through the hard course. However, I found the course too challenging and blew a gasket in the middle of the race, this came at the end of a hard training week (No excuses). However, It was pertfect for the build up towards St Albans 10 that I have been looking forward too. To view the course and my personal stats Steffan Ford (Watford xc) at Garmin Connect – Details.

Well the day started with a snow storm in Stevenage and Beca left to go for her day with the Rainbows. We left in the car and as soon as we arrived Watford we were relieved to find that it was raining and no snow could be seen. It was a hard course and was 6.9 miles. I paced myself a bit better than my last Cross Country run and managed a top 10 result. Okay I was 10th! It was the last run for FVS TRI as we are now called Team Trisports but that didn’t stop us taking all the team awards for 1st Mens Team, 1st Womens Team and 1st Combined Team.

Today was a lovely day for running, the conditions were near perfect!! For the past week I’d been checking the website to ensure the race would go ahead due to snow/ice. However, at 10:30am the race went ahead as planned although some drivers decided that the starting point should change and tried to push through. The field was about 400+ runners and I managed to follow a runner from Fairland Spartans whom I knew. He was talking it easy but helped me get my PB of 1hr 3 mins and 29 secs, I also managed 25th place and was chuffed considering I had only done a light 2 months run training this season due to injury.

Well how better to get over Christmas Day than spending it running. The race was sponsored by Buff and Beca got one as soon as she picked it her number. It was Beca first ever race and receiving the buff made her day. Beca was racing in the under 5 race and I started my race as she was racing so i missed her. Looking at the pictures and chatting to del it appears that she loved her race. It was funny as she pointed out who she passed at the end.

I managed to come 11th in the race but was beaten in the sprint finish by fellow team member, Dill.