Eye Charity 5

The Eye Charity 5 Road Race was an excellently run (lol) event. The money raised goes towards Eye Running Club's chosen charity, hence the title. The organisation of this event was excellent, there were plenty of marshals, water provided half way round and loads of support. The course itself is a bit of a blurry memory. I don’t really take too much notice of what’s around me, most of my concentration is on the person in front of me and whether I can catch them up! From what I do remember it was mainly on the flat with one or two little hills interspersed along the way.

I started off at a "just a little bit faster than normal comfortable pace" and was quickly left towards the back of the field – everyone else just seemed to zoom off! I held back and gradually increased my pace once I had settled into my stride. I remember passing through Mile 1 at 8:30 and feeling very pleased with that. I could see a couple of our club members up ahead and could tell that I was very gradually gaining on them. I passed through Mile 2 at about 17.30. I felt ok, legs felt strong but I had to concentrate on my breathing, taking deep breaths every now and again.

The field had really spread out by now and I was running down a very long track with a loop out to the right and then going left up on the road. This meant that when I came to the end of the track I could see runners the other side of the track running the other way, it could have been a little bit disheartening but I didn't mind, it was good to see some familiar faces. I was now at Mile 3. I can’t remember the rest of the split times, I just knew that I was doing ok. I caught up with the two club guys in front and managed to push on ahead of them. There was a little bit of a hill between 3 ½ mile and 4 ½ miles which I struggled with, but I had enough left in me to push it hard for the last ½ mile to the finish. It was very uplifting, coming in and hearing my fellow club runners cheering me on. Thanks guys!

I'm quite pleased with my time - I'm still on the mend and hopefully my times throughout the year will steadily improve.

Here are the positions.

Time: 43:29
Distance 5 miles

PS. I have some very exciting news! My Forerunner 205 is ordered!!