Fountain mountain.

  Wind, rain or shine I was going to Ripon to attack my last parkrun time of 17 minutes 53 seconds. My training has been going well and I must be race fit by now with the amount of races I have done in the last couple of months. I gathered up all the data and came to the conclusion that I should be able to complete the 5k at Fountains parkrun in 17 minutes 29 seconds. Most importantly though was to beat my previous time and to improve my time compared to other runners around me.
 Rain, no rain, drizzle, no rain, drizzle what ever it does it no longer matters as the race is about to begin and there is hardly any wind so full attack mode is locked in. The fast start is underway and I'm soon passed by some runners I do not know, the pace eases slightly and I have become blocked in. Two choices, barge my way through or drop back and loop round them.  I go for the loop round which doesn't impress me as it costs me time, I can't see myself going for the polite option next time. I will compromise and say excuse me as I force my way through, its not as if they have done it on purpose. As we take the first turn I am passed and as we head up the climb young Ripon runner Ben Pease casually makes his way past me and into the lead.  Yet again the climbing takes it out of me, you would think I am talking about going up a mountain not just a short slightly steep ascent.  ( serious hill training required over the next three weeks to help rectify this weakness). By the start of the large lap I am starting to feel the pain, the pain of giving it everything in these short races. I am sort of using Pease as a marker to gauge my own performance, I have no timing checkpoints to go by so I am calculating the distance he is in front of me. I feel that the distance between us is about correct but then negative thoughts enter the equation, what if he is taking it easy and just going for a steady victory. Nothing I can do about anything anyway as I am already  at full steam. Sprint finish of any kind and distance I highlighted in my running diary. Any distance and any kind of a Sprint didn't mean a five metre increase in speed with still too hundred metres to go. ( another weakness to get sorted before my next 5k. )  So 5th place it was for me today  in 17 minutes 33 seconds. I will take that. Four seconds short, guessing a second lost in messing around trying to get myself out of being boxed in and three seconds in the lack of a sprint finish.
  Plenty of areas still to work on which means I can look forward to at least a couple more seconds off next time along with any normal gradual improvements. 17 minutes 10 seconds will be my next marker.
 I am a bit gutted that I won't be going to the British Masters 5km Championships this year, I could go but I am greedy and would want a medal of some kind which is well beyond me at this present time. But, the British Masters Track Championships are looking very interesting, 1500 metres or 5k or even the 800 metres. And something to focus on and aim for.