This was my 16th time running this local race (my first time was back in 2004). The odd injury has kept me away, but I do try and take part whenever possible. It’s a lovely route and, on a sunny day, the on-course support is fantastic.

My last race was this race a year ago - where, coming off the London Marathon, I ran 41:48. In recent weeks I’ve increased my running a little more and have done a few 8+ mile runs - I’m not running much at the moment, but enjoying it when I do get out.

This year was the first time I’ve not been a member of a running club in over twenty years (I cancelled my Bognor Regis Tone Zone Runners membership this year as I never train with the club and just don’t make any meaningful use of my membership), so I had to decide what to wear for a change. I dug out my old pirate triathlon top, which I don’t think I’ve worn since Lanzarote in 2019. It still fit - just about.

The weather was warm with hazy sunshine but, unfortunately, there was a slight headwind for the second half.

I’d given myself a target of 41 minutes for the race and knew it was going to be a tough ask. I’ve managed some 5k parkruns around 20:15 recently (on the Bognor parkrun course, which isn’t a particularly quick course), so I should be able to run close to 20 minutes for 5k - but what will I manage for 10k?

Three miles in

I had a good starting position and wasn’t held up at all and tried not to get carried away - I wanted to get to 1km at about 4 minutes 6 seconds, and I got there pretty much spot on. A few seconds later I got overtaken by the 40-minute pacers, who’d started a little way behind me. They should be running 10 seconds per mile quicker than me, so I was happy that they drifted past slowly and had a large group of runners with them.

The first mile beeped on my watch at 6:30, which was fine, and mile two was in 6:34. I felt under control. I knew the hard work would come later.

Around three miles in I saw Sharon, whose support was excellent (as always). I headed past and went through 5k in about 20:20. That’ll do nicely.

Running through the local village where we live is great, as I know lots of people who are supporting. It’s a superb morale boost.

At 5.5km (3.4 miles) you turn up onto the promenade for about two and a half miles - with pretty much every step of it into a headwind. Great.

Just before four miles

Onto the promenade, I could see a large group up ahead of me, so over the next 90-120 seconds I pushed up slowly but surely towards them so I could hopefully hitch a bit of a ride in their draft. I got there and settled in just as Sharon caught this photo of me tucked in nicely.

I looked at my watch and it looked like the pace had slowed (because of the wind) down to about 6:45-6:50 per mile. I needed to push onwards. I upped the pace and slid off the front of the group.

I felt like I was mostly alone all the way from there to the finish, although the chap at the front of the group must have stayed close by, as in the last mile he ran past me still with his mobile phone in his hand.

The final half mile

The run to the finish was just hard work and putting one foot in front of the other. As I turned the final bend and saw the finish line, my watch said 40:30, so I pushed as hard as I could. I crossed the line delighted with a time very close to 41 minutes.

I received an automated text message saying my time was 41:01 shortly afterwards, but in the official results most people seemed to have a second taken off, so I’m officially down as 41 minutes and zero seconds. Perfect.

I’d love to get back under 40 minutes again - maybe next year…

Just before the finish