Harrogate Evening League Race # Thirsk

 This week started off well as my legs were suffering on Monday and Tuesday due to the hard workout they endured on Sundays hilly long run. The aching muscles can only mean one thing and that is they will be repaired but will be stronger. By Wednesday my legs were just about ok going off my pre-race preparation run which meant Thursdays evening race was on.
  The race was an Harrogate Evening League race  which was at my home town of Thirsk, the route is 5 miles and made up of mainly dirt tracks and off road but good going all the way round. The weather was perfect for running so all there was to do was get stuck in and enjoy it.
I had guesstimated  that I should be somewhere near Joseph Kwallah  Wetherby Runners by the finish and that I should try and keep Zack Whitehead Otley AC and Rob Scott RZH within sight at all costs if that was even possible. The race got underway with old rival and mate  Jamil Parapia Otley AC leading the way with myself tucked in a bunch of good runners just behind, with the track being a pot hole hazard I decided to move to the front of the bunch so I could avoid the worst parts. I got a tad carried away at this point and crossed the gap to join Parapia at the front, this is where I totally got carried away and took the lead for myself. Believe me I felt good and I was nowhere near the red zone, around the mile mark I started to slow down a touch which was more to do with keeping a constant effort than trying to keep a constant pace. In no time at all Parapia was away and the lead bunch came hurtling past and there was no way I could go with them.

Zack Whitehead, Joe Kwallah, Gary Dunn

I like to use these evening races as a seriously hard workout and that was exactly what I was treating myself to. I was working more at my 5k pace than 5 mile pace so it was a case of lets see how far I can keep it going. Not far off completing the first lap my target man number 1 Kwallah came past me, the fight was on to tag onto the back of him but he had opened up a small gap which I just about managed to control before it got any worse. Then Whitehead came past as I had expected, later than expected but he accelerated past me which I had no answer to so target man number 2 was now in my vision. At this point target man number 3 Scott was still behind me which made me wonder if I could manage to keep it that way. I passed through the finishing line to start the final lap and not long after that  target man 3 appeared and smoothly passed me, I went into the red zone trying to latch onto Scott but yet again there was no way I could match him and I was doing more damage than good as I started to loose what I had gained on Kwallah. It took a long time in no mans  land until I managed to close the gap back to what it was on Kwallah, target men 2 and 3 where in sight guessing 30 seconds or so which was good from my point of view.

Sprint finish, not.

Turning onto tarmac for the short section to the finish I had got into my head that I would out sprint target man 1 Kwallah, and that is where it ended as a thought and with that thought I crossed the finishing line in 11th position in a time of 28 minutes 34 seconds. 5 seconds behind Kwallah, a great battle for me but he knew nothing of it. Target men 2 and 3 finished 39 seconds and 30 seconds ahead of me respectively. Overall I'm happy with that and there was no way on this planet that could I of gone any quicker, I just hope they felt the same. Parapia went on to win the race in 26 minutes 16 seconds with Burrett Harrogate AC  second and Grant also Harrogate AC 3rd.

Thirsk didn't do a club photo so I found another club with
Yellow vests to sneak onto,

   It's looking like the long steady hilly 22 miler I was writing about in my last post is on for this Sunday. The running bug has definitely struck.