From January to June 2004, I was an exchange student at the University of Lund in Sweden (I'd do anything to do that again). I raced 3 times in Sweden. The third one was Goteborgsvarvet, the Gothenburg Half Marathon to native English speakers, on 15th May 2004. From memory, the harsh Swedish winter, with temperatures down to minus 20 degrees celsius even in the south where I stayed, wasn't conducive to great running. I did run outside a bit but supplemented it with a couple of gym sessions a week. Anyway, I recall finishing 247th in a then personal best of 1:22:24 before rushing back south on the train for a Eurovision party with the folk I lived with. Exactly 7 years on, the Eurovision Song Contest was on again and I was in a hotel room in Bristol preparing for the city's 10k.
Anyone who has ever had a lift from me will know I have no sense of direction. To minimise the possibility of getting lost in a new city, I booked a hotel room 200m from the start line and got a bus from the airport straight there. Even better, my number was to be collected from Millenium Square across the road. Thankfully the hen party staying in the hotel didn't disturb me and, after an uneventful night watching Eurovision while sipping tea and eating jaffa cakes, I was ready to race the next morning.
Bristol operates a 2 wave start with around 2000 runners setting off at 9.30am then the other 7000 or so at 9.45am. I was in the first batch and got as close to the front as I could. Because of the crowded start, I began fairly fast to avoid getting bogged down. I knew this was going to take a bit of grit. I had done 1km before the lead car clock had reached 3 minutes. Under 30 minute pace, yikes.
I had recognised Martin Williams on the start line. Martin is a UK international who ran in the marathon for Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi then the UK at the European Championships in Barcelona. We therefore have one international vest in common! He competes for Cambuslang north of the border. "Here's a good guy to hold on to" I thought and that I did. Running almost at the peak of my abilities, I stuck to Martin like glue. We caught a couple of runners at about 2-3km and settled down. After a minute or so, he moved out the group and away. Putting a Spedding interval into practice, I ran after him. We continued along the river side to the 4km mark where the course turned to head back to the city centre.
Bristol operates a 2 wave start with around 2000 runners setting off at 9.30am then the other 7000 or so at 9.45am. I was in the first batch and got as close to the front as I could. Because of the crowded start, I began fairly fast to avoid getting bogged down. I knew this was going to take a bit of grit. I had done 1km before the lead car clock had reached 3 minutes. Under 30 minute pace, yikes.
I had recognised Martin Williams on the start line. Martin is a UK international who ran in the marathon for Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi then the UK at the European Championships in Barcelona. We therefore have one international vest in common! He competes for Cambuslang north of the border. "Here's a good guy to hold on to" I thought and that I did. Running almost at the peak of my abilities, I stuck to Martin like glue. We caught a couple of runners at about 2-3km and settled down. After a minute or so, he moved out the group and away. Putting a Spedding interval into practice, I ran after him. We continued along the river side to the 4km mark where the course turned to head back to the city centre.
Above: tracking Martin Williams (number 13372) towards the 4km mark. It's clear from my face I'm at the limit of my endurance.
There was a slight headwind to contend with on the way back. While suffering quite a bit, I knew I was putting in one of my best ever performances at any distance and was gaining in confidence. Martin slowly opened a gap after 6km which, this time, I couldn't keep closed. I was beginning to find the long stretch a drag and, unusually for such a big race, found myself with very few runners close to me. My pace definitely slowed and I blew up slightly in the final 2km, losing a couple of places at that stage. Some crowds in the city centre gave me a bit of a lift. As I headed back towards the hotel front door/finish, I managed to raise a sprint of sorts to beat 31 minutes. My timing chip bleeped to provide me with a new personal best by 31 seconds of 30:41 to compensate for the exhaustion. I finished 25th with a time which would win most races in Scotland. Martin was 21st in 30:25. It was a Kenyan 1-2-3 at the front with Edwin Kiptoo winning in 28:39. UK international Phil Wicks was first British finisher, 4th overall in 29:11. Full results are on http://www.runbristol.com/.
Recognising the Cambuslang vest, Martin was kind enough to share a few words with me. We had met only once before, a brief hello at the Scottish Senior Track and Field Championships in 2009. I had enough time for a very gentle 20 minute jog warm down before checking out the hotel and heading back to the airport.
I am delighted with how this trip went since I invested a bit of time, money and effort in planning it. I see it as a gamble which paid off. It's amazing I can barely get close to 16 minutes in training 5km time trials (my new name for Park Runs) yet can put 2 lots of 5km faster than that back to back on another day.
My next summer target is the Scottish Senior 5000m on 17th July. Before that though, I've entered another 10km race down south, the Sunderland City 10k on 26th June. I have family in that part of the world so it's a nice excuse for a wee visit.
