This was my second Chelsea Challenge and after last year's race being so warm I took several different combinations of clothing as it was really cold when I first got up and tested the weather before having breakfast. In the end I went with shorts and a running jacket. I felt pretty cold at the start line but the sun was out and it wasn't too windy so I put it out of my mind and focused on a good start. This year, they had local hero and ultra runner Ray Zahab start the race. Ray is from Chelsea and as well as being the founder of "impossible to possible" he has an impressive list of victories in ultra marathons.
The race got off to a quick start with both the 10km and 5km race starting out at the same time and sharing the racecourse for 2.5 kilometers. I got into a good rhythm early on but my Garmin died on me so I had to run by feel instead of to a specific pace. I therefore have no splits for this race (and had to replace my Garmin with a shiny new 410).
The majority of runners do the 5km, so when they turn back to the start/finish area, the racecourse gets really lonely. I could see a few runners up ahead as we headed up the steep hill along Chemin Scott but they were quite a bit ahead so I kept my pace and pushed myself up the hill as fast as I could.
Once we made the turn onto the 105, I was unaware of any other runners behind me until I was startled by a lady passing me. She ran along side me for a little bit, commenting on the hilliness of the course and then took off on a steep incline. I tried to stick with her, but couldn't, so I followed behind as close as I could and used her as an incentive to run hard to the finish.
As we rounded the bend on to Chemin Old Chelsea, she wasn't too far ahead and I could see two male runners about 100 meters ahead of her, so I aimed for them seeing as I wasn't racing against her anyway, I set myself the target of catching the male runners.
Soon enough I was striding into the finish straight that was a road up to the school and passed the lady. I had also gained a lot of ground on one of the two male runners and sprinted as hard as I could. However, he saw me out of the corner of his eye and put in one last burst to pip me at the line. Still, it was good to finish strong and end up with a better time than if I had just cruised in.
Final time: 46:04, my second fastest 10km of all time (fastest was 45:22 at last year's Chelsea Challenge).
