Greenwich Meridian 10k 2006

They're off! The start gun fires and the elite pack races off to do the first couple of flat laps around the park. The brutal hills are later on, cruely close to the finish.

The elite runners zoom off into the distance, I stay in the middle of the pack for the first km, to ensure a measured start. Always important to be restrained initially, it's not so easy when you are pumped up with adreneline.



I am somewhere behind the runner in green.


Here I am, running along in my upwright way, feeling fresh and looking forward to an evenly paced race, aware that this will be hard for a course as hilly as this. I'm really enjoying myself here, since it is during te early stages and my legs are not yet tired.


One last push to the finish! I can see the line and have a good idea that a PB is likely, so I try my best to squeeze just a few seconds more, a few seconds in time, a few metres away from the origin of time in Greenwixh Medidian, here on planet Earth!





Final result: A very evenly paced race, almost a negative split, something like 21:10,21:39 for a time of about 42m49m (unofficial, so plus minus about 20s) This is about a minute faster than last year, on this tough course.


To ensure I enjoy the race, negative splits are the key, for me. What are "negative splits"? some kind of painful excercise? No. It just means you run the second half of a race slightly faster than the first half. It've found it works for me for several reasons.

This ensures I don't stress myself too much. Also, you get a better performance if you do this, based on the fact that many world record times are run in this way. But, mostly it is just more fun. As you gradually increase your pace, you overtake others in the latter stages. I find it is also good for another reason, the "I'm having a bad day" syndrome. Let me explain.


If I can start out the first few portions of a race slower, I can then accelerate towards the middle and through to the end. If I feel like it. If I am having a "bad" day, then I just continue at the same pace and don't have those "Why am I doing this?" moments, enduced by over exurting myself. Makes great sense to me, as a "natural runner", also. Why? Well, here's a brief theory.

Our ancestors, during a hunt, might chase our prey for a period and then move in for the kill as our prey wore down. Who knows?

Finally, all this "easy running" I have been doing, for the last couple of months, has not had an adverse affect on my speed, apparantly. So, that is interesting: no pain, some gain!