Olympic Gains

I spent a very enjoyable hour or so this morning running around a building site. Well,  I wasn't actually on the building site for the whole time, but my participation in the Newham 10k took me through the Olympic Park in Stratford and provided a close up view of some of the new 2012 facilities. As the bloke on the PA at the start kept telling us, we were very privileged to be the first ever athletes to be running through the Olympic Park. Something to tell my grandchildren about in years to come I suppose; perhaps I'll keep quiet about the fact that we didn't actually make it inside the main arena itself though!

With the loss of an hour during the night courtesy of British Summer Time, my 6:15 am exit from bed was a bit of a shock to the system, but after my hot water with a slice of lemon, a bowl of cereal, a shower and shave I was raring to go. We drove to Tesco in Leytonstone, taking advantage of the free parking before walking to Leytonstone Tube Station about five minutes away. 

It's not the most attractive or uplifting of neighbourhoods, but I was very excited to discover the magnificent mosaics adorning the outside and inside of the Underground station, commemorating the old master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, who was born at number 517 Leytonstone High Road in 1899. The works of art, which comprise a total of 80,000 tiles and took 7 months to complete, were installed to commemorate the centenary of his birth.

I was hoping that the shower I would be having later would be less eventful than the one depicted in the Psycho mosaic!

There was a really friendly atmosphere amongst the runners waiting at the start line, and despite of the absence of spectators along most of the route, the whole race generated a great buzz.  It was fantastic to be a part of a much more culturally diverse field than is found at most road races in the UK.

Waiting for the race to begin

The route was narrow for the first km, and with the field not yet spread out, progress was slow – almost proceeding at walking pace at times. It's never a bad thing to start steadily though. It can help prevent running out of steam later on, although this is less of a factor in a 10k than in a half or full marathon.

At around 2k we passed the wave shaped aquatic centre (swimming pool in old money), and then wound our way in a surprisingly undulating manner towards the Olympic Stadium itself, which came magnificently into view between the 4 and 5k markers. 

The theatre of Olympic dreams?

I passed 5k in a palindromic 31:13 minutes, and slowed only slightly in the second half of the race to finish feeling good in a very pleasing 64:26 minutes, my best 10k time since 2005. For the final 500m I found myself, not unpleasantly, running in the slipstream of the Powerade sponsored 65 minute pace maker, proving just how efficient she was at her job on top of her easy on the eye qualities.

The 65 minute pace maker

It was such an enjoyable run, and completed 8 minutes faster than I managed in the London 10K in May last year.  What's more, although the additional 5 minutes I need to shave off to achieve a new PB still feels like a significant challenge, I'm not ruling it out after today's performance. Especially as I sacrificed a few seconds in stopping to take a couple of quick snapshots and I was also slowed down by probably 30 seconds or so in the congested opening stages of the race.

The Newham 10k route is unique. The Olympic Park is already looking very impressive and I am now looking forward to the summer of 2012 even more expectantly. The London Olympics are going to be stupendous.

My very own Olympic medal..... well, almost!

After returning to the Tesco car park we headed to Bromley for a much needed Sunday Roast followed by rhubarb crumble and custard produced to the usual deliciously high standard by my Mum. What a treat!

Therapy for tired legs (part 1)

Therapy for tired legs (part 2)

My energy further replenished by a couple of hour's rest and a cup tea, we headed for Brent Town Hall to spend a couple of hours at the Pakistani wedding of one of Juliet's work colleagues. This was another colourful occasion, that emphasised further what a wonderfully diverse city London is. The spicy food on offer undoubtedly took me well over my recommended daily calorie allowance, making me glad that I had already run off at least some of the excess earlier in the day.

What a busy, interesting and fulfilling day!