Percy Pud 10k (Sheffield)

[Nigel]

Well done on the race, and thanks for the fine report, Chris. Sounds like a very scenic course.

Presumably the vivid colours of your paintings http://www.themulberrytreeuk.com are at least in part inspired by the red mist of a Pollard sprint finish ? The inspirational light of your landscapes is surely just made for a geologist's study wall..... so should it be the Timex or a mountain dawn for Christmas, then ?

You ran an excellent time, too. I am working on a sub-50 10k, so far without success (or any enthusiasm). The problem is that I was really spooked by my one 10k experience at Stubbington last January. Confidently expected all those fast starters roaring ahead of me to crash and burn so I could pick off their gasping carcasses in the closing km. Instead, I just never saw them again as they left me for dust. Virtually vomited my way home in 52:59.

The trouble is, that people who run 10k seem to be able to really run, and run fast. For a largely one-paced but fairly dogged runner like me, it was back to the 'second last round the school playing fields' feeling. I haven't risked another 10k since.

And yet, crazily, I have bettered that 10k PB in the last three half marathons I have run. Now how did I manage that ?!