Hatfield Broad Oak 10k

The Hatfield Broad Oak (HBO) 10k has become something of a tradition in our running calendar. This year is our third consecutive HBO 10k and the events 30th anniversary so it promised to be a good one. I was feeling the effects of running 10 km of hills on Saturday and had a really bad flare up of patellofemoral dysfunction (or runners knee as it's more commonly known) which seems to have been aggravated by the marathon a week ago. I decided to give the kinesiology tape a go to see if it could help my kneecap correctly track and reduce the irritation as I ran. My shin pain seemed to be back again so I also applied some tape to just my left shin. I worked out that it had taken £5 worth of KT tape to get me in some sort of shape to run, probably not wise or sustainable. I think following this run I may have to give some thought to recovery and treating old injuries.

Paul and I pre-race

We arrived well ahead of the race to get a parked and beat the road closures. The morning whilst starting off bright turned overcast and quite cold, not like previous years when the sun has almost made it too hot for running. We met up with our fellow Um Bongo team members Chris and Alec as well as a few of the guys from the Hatfield Forest parkrun. There was quite a bit of excitement and anticipation around the t-shirt design and medal as it was the 30th anniversary celebrations. We found the tent where the t-shirts would be handed out at the end and asked if we could get a sneak preview. They were grey much to my surprise or as Paul described them 'Gandalf' grey! When we asked about the medals we were told that they were only being handed out for the kiddies fun run. It was a bit of a shame as there had been some discussion on the HBO 10k social media pages about the race having a special finishers medal and t-shirt to celebrate the 30th anniversary. It didn't bother me too much but I felt sorry for those who may have been running their first 10k and had been expecting a medal for their efforts.

Team Um Bongo

The event had changed from previous years, the race HQ was at the school and the runners facilities were on the village green which made it a lot spacious. The course was a reverse loop starting and finishing on the high street which made it a lot better for both the runners and spectators. I'd heard rumours from other runners who had tested the route that they thought the new route was 5 minutes slower than the previous course.

The race was due to start at 11 am so we made our way to the start line. The field was split into predicted finish intervals, Paul and I were going to run together so placed ourselves in the 55 minute area expecting a gentle run. I am not sure I heard the starting gun but the crowd of runners started to surge forward so I knew that we'd soon be crossing the start line. The first couple of kilometres seemed very crowded and bunched to me, we spent much of the time dodging other runners and trying to pass people who had already stopped to walk. There was also a little elevation but nothing compared to what we had experienced during the Dark Ox a couple of days previously. Soon after we were able to settle into a steady rhythm, I wasn't looking at my watch to keep an eye on my pace, I was just running to what felt comfortable.

Just before the start

The Um Bongo vests were getting a lot of attention. At one point a kid shouted at me "GO HIPPOPOTAMUS!" now I know I am carrying a extra few pounds but... oh wait I forget there is a great big pink hippo on the back of the race vest! It was really nice, Paul and I hadn't invited anyone to come along and support us but we felt like we had our own fan club. The vests never fail to make people smile and lots of people comment and encourage us as we're running.

At the 5 km point Paul was unleashed and stretched his legs and ran off ahead. The field was a little more spread out now so I wasn't feeling quite as cramped. I was conscious that I didn't want to let the pace dip once I was running on my own. The scenery on the route was really quite pleasant, all of the race was on closed roads around the village of Hatfield Broad Oak. My painful knee was more or less a feature of the entire race and even though strapped with KT tape there didn't seem to be any relief. At around 7 km the arch of my right foot began to ache, this was a new one! Kilometres 6-9 were really consistent with only 3 seconds difference in the pacing. For the final kilometre I decided to begin to pick up the pace. I had been running on and off with a girl for most of the race so I kept her in my sight and made sure I kept up.

We turned onto the road back into the village which I recognised from when we drove in and I knew it wasn't far to go. One of the marshals shouted "final kilometre" which had got my hopes up but I didn't recall seeing the 9 km marker. We were still about a minute away from the 9 km marker! Luckily I hadn't sped up too much. I was quite impressed with my pace at this stage, I was not feeling too laboured and seemed to be over taking a lot of other runners. We turned onto the high street and I could see the finish line so opened up and sprinted overtaking about 12 people in the finishing funnel (which probably not very sporting of me). I finished with the official time of 53:45, almost exactly a minute slower than my efforts at the Flitch Way 10k in April and approximately 2 and a half minutes slower than my 2014 HBO time. I wasn't too disappointed though, I knew I had injuries which were perhaps holding me back and I had managed my expectations to accept that it was unlikely to be a PB day.

Happy finishers

From the finish line we queued to get back onto the village green. It was quite a long wait before we were able to get our t-shirt, it was no improvement on when the finish was by the village hall and meant standing around and getting cold. Paul, Chris and Alec had also finished so we regrouped and chatted to various people that we'd spotted. Despite having run the first 5 km with me, Paul managed to catch up with Alec and got him home in a sub 50. Chris finished about a minute ahead of me with a time of 52:37. It just goes to show how challenging the Dark Ox 10k was as we were 20 minutes faster at HBO just 2 days later! We went back to the car to get something warm to put on and went for a wander and our tradition of a post race ice cream.

Post race 99

Afterwards it was back to Chris' for a BBQ. Unfortunately the weather did not improve so we ended up sitting indoors to keep warm! I had made my BBQ speciality of guacamole and halloumi and vegetable skewers with a lemon, mint and chilli dressing. Chris had got us veggies some onion bhaji burgers which made for a strangely enjoyable combo with cheese, BBQ sauce and brioche bun! We ate a stupid amount of food and there was still plenty left over. We had a really nice afternoon with friends old and new chatting about running and various stuff.

There are moments in life that define you as a person. Likewise, in running there are moments that define who you are as a runner. I should have really enjoyed the race today, it's usually the highlight of my running year however I couldn't help but feel like something wasn't quite right. It may have been that I was injured and sulking but I had accepted earlier that I would run within my current limits. I very much feel like I have had the realisation that I am happiest when running in a small field of runners along the trail. Busy road races, regardless of how flat or fast they are supposed to be just do not do it for me! I think I am a trail runner...