For the third year in a row, I was with Carmen at Northala Fields for the Northolt 10K. Each year I’ve been, I’ve seen changes to the set-up of the race, and this year was no exception with the race village looking better than ever with the prayer flags and a temporarily constructed stupa complete with Buddha’s all-seeing eyes. There was even a Nepalese food truck selling things such as momos, and sel roti.

It was a bit chilly out after returning from Valencia, so layered up well until ten minutes before the race when I checked Carmen’s bag in at the bag drop, and we were then led by a Nepalese bagpiper layer round past the equipment lockup to the start line. It was a good chance to see what that path would be like for running down shortly. Fortunately the puddles weren’t as bad as the first year I did this race.

I started a long way back in the start funnel, mostly because I felt I didn’t want to do this race too quickly having barely run in the last week since the Valencia half marathon, and having done plenty of walking instead. The result of this meant that when the conch was blown to start the race, I was overtaking people pretty quickly for the first mile, whenever I could find an opportunity to pass people safely. A lot of this was done along the straight past the cafe, and then around the back of the four hills, though I continued to slowly overtake through most of the first lap of Rectory Park as well.

In a lot of ways the first lap does feel a lot like doing Northala Fields parkrun, and I had to remind myself not to do 5K pace. Immediately starting the second lap of Rectory Park I was then overtaking runners who were just starting their first lap, including the 75 and 70 minute pacers. For the most part, this second lap felt great, and the puddles weren’t too bad really.

Back in Northala Fields, this first return meant running down the muddy path I’d slowed down for earlier on the way out of the park in the first mile. I walked through the puddle this time to avoid splashing too much, which looking back seems silly, but I got running again and around the back of the hills I walked again two more times - one of those when the path and the grass was blocked by pedestrians. It was unfortunate, but we do need to respect other park users as well, so it’s just one of those things, especially as I’d already walked twice of my own accord anyway. Each time was however brief, so that was a positive.

I got running again, and was careful on the descent from the hill where it was a bit wet, just as I do in winter months for the parkrun there. The path the junior parkrun uses wasn’t as damp as I was expecting, but was one of the wetter parts of the course. Then, on the way out of Northala Fields, I high-fived Carmen who was just coming into the park herself. I then had a quick sip of water for the only time on this race, before doing the final lap of Rectory Park. I passed the 75 minute pacer again. I was going to walk again after that, but when I heard a marshal say someone was catching up with me, it pushed me on to continue running through the trees.

As I ran back into Northala Fields, I high-fived Carmen again as she was leaving that one, and that helped push me on towards the finish. As the finish line came into sight, I tried to hold the pace, but knew I’d want to sprint soon. When I heard one of the parkrun core team shout that I could ‘take’ the runner in front of me, I decided now was the time to sprint, and I overtook them before crossing the finish line in 42:06 in position 21 out of 315, and 7th in my category. I knew I’d not pushed myself to my limit, but I’d beaten last years time of 42:49, and the previous year’s 44:08. Maybe not the sub-40 times I used to get elsewhere, but that felt like good progress to me.