Mileage: 11 miles
Sri Chinmoy 2 Mile Race – 6th Place: 10mins 25secs
When I started running in 2007 I discovered the Sri Chinmoy 1, 2 mile and 5k races in the Meadows. Run by the good people of Edinburgh’s Run and Become shop, they are small races with about 50-75 runners, but often with incredibly competitive athletes including international runners on some occasions. They are very enjoyable races that certainly get the best out of you. I can’t quite remember which one I did first, but I know that I did a 5k and 2 mile race in July that year. The 5k I finished in 18.36 and finished about 18th and in the 2 mile run I ran 11.57 and again finished in the top 20.
After each race there is a short prize giving where the first 7 men and women get special medals. I remember after running my first couple of these races watching these elite athletes collecting the medals and I was utterly mesmerised and awe struck by their times and their efforts. I instnantly wanted one! I made it a goal for my running career to win one of those medals! I ran a couple more of the races in 2007 and 2008 and managed to bring down my times, but still got nowhere near 7th place. Last year I only raced once, a 2 mile race where I finished in the top 15 (I think) in 10.45. The way my training and racing worked last year meant I just never made it up to the Meadows on a Wednesday night.
This year has been similar, as I have been focusing on Tuesday and Thursday night training sessions, both before and after my holiday so hadn’t entered one of these races. At the end of last week when I decided I would run the Musselburgh 10k as a target race with the aim of getting a PB I thought a Wednesday night 2 mile run would provide me with the perfect opportunity to tune up. I took Monday and Tuesday easily so as to recover a little from my 22mile run on Sunday. However, my legs felt quite heavy as I warmed up and I struggled to find any pace in them as I forced out some reluctant strides down Middle Meadow Walk. The weather was far from perfect too, the heavy drizzle had worked its way into my mind and I was far from excited about racing. With it being such a shitty night I was pretty pleased to see a number of my club mates including Adam, James and Kev at the start line, which lifted my mood. It was good, as always to chat races and training, and it helped me focus my mind more on running.
We massed under what was now a light drizzle at the start line and I felt a little tense and nervous, as I have to admit, as much as the race didn’t matter too much to me in terms of long term racing and training objectives, I really wanted to win one of those medals. I recognised several of the runners on the start line all of whom were pretty quick, as well as those from my own club too. I knew before we’d even set off that this was going to be a tough race!
I wasn’t sure what my race tactic was going to be until about 5 seconds after the race had started. It turned out that my tactic was simply run as fast as I could for as long as I could. I quickly found myself in a collection of about 6 or 7 runners behind 3 very fast runners who had already pulled away from us. By the time we had made our first turn after about a quarter of a mile we were down to a group of 4, myself, Adam Priestley, Jeff (A Pitreavie Runner) and Bryan (Corstorphine). We headed to the half mile mark together, but I was already feeling it. By the time we made the turn to head back to complete the first mile loop we had thinned out slightly with Bryan pulling ahead of Adam, Adam pulling ahead of Jeff and Jeff pulling ahead of me. I was just hanging on to the back. Our string stretched out a little bit more by the time we crossed the mile marker. With our times being called out I knew Bryan went through in just over 5 minutes. I was at 5.05, a bit faster than what I had thought I would have gone through in. The start of the final mile was definitely slower and I was in danger of dropping right off and getting swallowed up by the group of runners not too far behind me. I put in a bit of work after we turned the corner at about 1.25 miles and managed to get myself on even terms with Jeff. I have to admit I thought about pushing on a bit and trying to catch up with Adam. I perhaps didn’t give Adam the credit he deserved as I told myself that he would probably slow up considerably in the last half mile, so I concentrated on staying with Jeff and saving something for the end. When we approached the last couple of turns and the last half mile I put in another burst and moved ahead of Jeff. I was pleased about this and really wanted to make it stick, as earlier this year Jeff had beaten me to first place at the Kinross 10k. As we turned into the last 200m I looked ahead and although Adam was coming a little closer he had held his pace well and there was no way I was going to catch him. I did however finish strong and managed to finish in a new PB of 10.25 and 6th place. It was a great feeling. I am not sure my lungs have worked so hard in a race before. They were heaving to the point of bursting as I crossed the line and collapsed in a heap on the floor.
At the end it was with a big smile and a great sense of achievement that I went up and collected my sixth place medal. I’ve now achieved another one of my running goals, only about a million more to do before I can retire satisfied. It was a great race and I now feel in good shape for the 10k on Saturday. Hopefully with a couple of easier days between now and then I will get the PB I am looking for.
Top 10 Places from tonight’s race:
1 Michael Gillespie Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds 9.34 1st M
2 Stevie Cairns HBT 9.56 2nd M
3 Ben Cole Edinburgh Uni Hare and Hounds 10.08 3rd M
4 Bryan Clarke Corstorphine AAC 10.16 4th M
5 Adam Priestley Edinburgh AC 10.19 5th M
6 Richard Meade Edinburgh AC 10.25 6th M
7 Jeff Farquhar Pitreavie AAC 10.28 1st MV50
8 James Ruskin Edinburgh AC 10.38 7th M
9 Rory Downie Stirling Tri Club 10.39
10 Paul Brennan Edinburgh AC 10.53
Full results here
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