Hello everyone . Thanks to everyone who read my last post and sent kind comments , it really is appreciated. Everything seems to be a little bit quiet in Realbuzz land , then I logged in to write this blog and i see that some of you are still around but it appears I am no longer receiving the notifications ?!  So apologies if I have not been adding my comments lately , I have not been ignoring you it's just the usual technology fails that seem to bug me from time to time . 

So , onto the title of this blog . Monday just gone was my third go at the London 10000 , formerly the Bupa 10000. I have had some ups and downs with my training , a bad back and an odd sensation in my left leg but in the last week of training everything seemed to come together nicely as I was able to break in my new super speedy Adidas shoes , my back felt better and the left leg niggle dissappeared . This of course put me in a very positive state of mind for the race. I have been concentrating on my nutrition too and have finally been able to get back down to my 'racing weight' around 10st7oz. I still want to shift a little fat around my belly but Tracy says I am being ridiculous and i have nothing to worry about ! We travelled by train again and the boys were way too excited , they didn't stop all the way down to London and in fact it took my mind off of the race which was great because I do tend to waste nervous energy thinking about the event ahead. The atmosphere in Green park was great and the new sponsors Vitality and the London Marathon commitee organised the whole thing brilliantly. Tracy found a good spot near the front as I was in the first wave of the mass start , just after the elite athletes were waved off. She took a picture of me on the start line which i really like . Here I am 

i set off at a pretty quick pace , with the aim to run around 7:45 minute per mile pace , whch would bring me under my previous best of 48:19 . The first half of the race includes a couple of gentle climbs and I was careful not to overcook it here . By the time i got to 5k I was running around 7 minute to 7:15 per mile which was fantastic . Could I keep this going ? The route was altered this year so that we ran down Whitehall and into Birdcage Walk . The last 2 miles was mainly downhill and i wqas able to run a negative split. I realised at this point that if I continued at this pace I could get under 46 minutes ! As I crossed the line and looked at my watch I knew I had done it but as usual the one time the watch doesn't play ball and stop corretly is during a race . I finally got it to stop recording but was unable to determine the exact time. I was happy anyway because I knew I had run a really good race , it just all came together and I felt bloody fantastic becuse I really did run that race so hard. I picked up my medal and another super goody bag stuffed with bits and peices including a really nice 'technical' t-shirt as they call them . I wandered through green Park grinning from ear to ear and it wasn't long before the family arrived. Tracy took a few snaps and we had a look around the tents and stuff before I changed my gear and we headed off . I really do love this event and it is second only to the London Marathon in my list of running races. it is just a shame it is over so quickly . We made our way to the McDonalds in Victoria before another walk up to Oxford Street , which was a bit dissapointing to be honest . i haven't visited Oxford Street in a while and for me it just isn't the same . Even the giant HMV store is no more , they moved to a smaller premises near Bond Street tube which we only discovered after a walk in the wrong direction ! I was glad to get home , now quite tired after the days exercise.

I loaded up the stats from my Suunto watch when I got home but was puzzled by what I saw - the total distance recorded was 6.6 miles (10.6 kilometres) and my average pace was recorded as 7m15seconds per mile . I completed 10k in 45 minutes and 15 seconds but the watch recorded the total time as 48 minutes ! This got me thinking about the post that Nick wrote a while back about this very subject , the inaccuracy of the GPS technology. I got the official time from the race organisers in the evening which was 47minutes and 59 seconds . I was very happy with this  , a new PB by 20 seconds but I was convinced I had run faster when you see my average pace recorded as 7:15 seconds per mile. It certainly felt like i was running at a fast pace (for me) so I am surprised at how inaccurate the GPS recording is over a relatively short time and distace . When I finally grow out of my competitive instinct I will stop worrying about these things but for now I need to think about alternatives becuase i am not happy with this . I think I will invest in a footpod and compare the results. 

So to sum up , I had a fantastic weekend and i am glad i can still run quicker and acheive personal bests. I am taking a few days off from running , I may sign up for a summer event somewhere but my main focus will now be the autumn half marathon season which will include Mablethorpe ( nice and flat !) and possibly Luton ( NOT flat !! ) .

Thanks for reading 

Sean