Back of the Kew

September has arrived and the last few days have felt decidedly autumnal. The summer, if you can call it that, has absolutely flown by and today brought the first of my busy programme of running events scheduled for the final four months of Project Five O. I'd originally planned today's race, the Richmond River Run, as my final attempt at a 10k but coming too soon into my post-holiday training to offer any chance of a decent time, I decided to treat it as a more glamorous training run and have entered into another 10k race for the beginning of October.

A canoe gliding sedately by

About 500 runners set out at 9:00 am from Kew Green right outside the entrance to the world famous Botanical Gardens, and I positioned myself towards the back of the field. This turned out to be a tactical error as after 800 metres it was necessary to climb 8 narrow steps onto the tow path, and by the time I reached them a considerable queue (or should that be Kew?) had built up causing a delay of well over a minute and I experienced a sense of deja vu having spent most of last Friday afternoon stationary on the M25. If I'd been in with a realistic chance of achieving a PB today, this hold up would have dashed my hopes straight away. In the event, it was no more than a minor annoyance.

For the first 4 kilometres I maintained a steady if unspectacular pace, but started to slow slightly as the route turned for home at the half way stage after passing under Twickenham Bridge and a brief incursion into Richmond's Old Deer Park. Aptly named I thought at the time, not feeling at my most sprightly by this stage.

Camera shake on the move at the 8k mark

This section of the Thames is very pretty and extremely popular with joggers, walkers and cyclists even relatively early on a Sunday morning. This did necessitate a bit of dodging and weaving at times, and the tow path itself was a little uneven in places, interrupting my rhythm, but I thoroughly enjoyed the surrounding, which stirred great memories of when I walked the entire length of the river back in 1997. Not in one go I hasten to add, it took me 10 days, which amazingly is 2 days longer than the comedian David Walliams is hoping to swim it this week to raise money for Sports Relief. Now that's impressive.

Kew is directly under the Heathrow flightpath and I lost count of the number of aeroplanes passing overhead. It can't be much fun for the local residents, but there's something very exciting about being so close to aeroplanes just after they've taken off, wondering where they're off to and thinking about journeys you've been on in the past and ones to come. In my case, I found myself starting to get very excited about my work trip to Japan next month. And all the while I kept plodding on towards the finish, nearly grinding to a halt between 8 and 9k, before surprising myself with a very dynamic sprint finish. Before I knew it, it was time to receive my medal from the Mayor of Richmond.

The Mayor of Richmond waiting to place a medal around my neck.

My time was slow as I had expected, 1:09:18, but I was encouraged by the thought that, but for the queue at the steps, it would have been my second fastest 10k time of the year, although still a long way short of my PB for 10k. Realistically I'm coming to the view that my I may never be able to regain sufficient speed in my legs to achieve my times of 5 years ago for the shorter distances (if you can call 10k, 6.25 miles short) and my best chance of achieving a PB may well be in the Florence Marathon in November. Nevertheless, I'm going to give this particular distance one last go for Project Five O in the Hertfordshire 10k on 9th October.