Joe Cox Stowmarket 10

11am 10 miles in 1 hour 17 minutes 27 seconds.

Week to date mileage 27

Month to date mileage 121

Average weekly rate 31.1

Average Monthly rate 135

Weather: Spring at last mild sunny and breezy.

Today I took part in the Joe Cox Stowmarket 10. The clocks went forward an hour over night leading to an hours less sleep. There were no problems this year parking at the Sports Centre. I went early to avoid any problems and to register on the day.

The sports centre at Stowmarket is a great venue and it does provide a safe haven for spectators to get indoors and get some refreshments. There is always a great range of cakes and drinks at give away prices.The turnout seemed quite low at about 150 but it was also Mothering Sunday.

The fun runs kicked off before hand and there were a good range of events for the younger age groups to take part in and this is always good to see.

My aim today was to beat my previous time for this course set 2 years ago when I ran 1 hour 20 minutes 26 seconds when there 139 finishers.

As per usual I set of a bit too fast encouraged by a slightly down hill section at the beginning. I reached the 1st mile in 7.15 . The first village you go through is Onehouse and then very quickly you are into Harleston. I had slowed a bit by then and arrived at the 2 mile marker in 14.57 (7.42 for the 2nd mile) . Soon after this you go past Harleston Hall and then on to some footpaths.

For the first few miles I ran in sight of 2 other St Edmunds Pacers Roger Brand and Stephen Whitaker. I soon lost sight of Roger who disappeared ahead a bit too quick for me. I ran most of the rest of the race with Stephen or at least I had him in sight. My 3rd mile went well in 7.34 and so did the 4th which turned out to be my best of the race in 7.26. About here near Haughley you go over a small bridge over the A14 and then there is a climb past Haughley Park which turned out to be my slowest mile of the race in 8.29. It was at this point I actually took over the lead from Stephen but as soon as we turned into the wind at about 6 miles I wasn't able to catch him again.

Mile 6 was run in 8 minutes and I then begun to feel better again as we turned to run more easterly and so avoid the worst of the head wind. Mile 7 was completed in 7.38 and it was somewhere near here at Shelland that the road became blocked by 2 horses. The road was fairly narrow and one of the horses started to buck and kick and a small group of runners came to a compleat halt. Eventually they managed to get round on the grass embankment besides the road which I did too but it could have been quite nasty as the rider didn't seem to be able to control the horse which apparently was upset by the runners.

I had another slow mile between 7-8 recording 8.03 but then you arrive back at Harleston and you are back on to the same stretch of the road run at the beginning of the race. Here everyone seemed to speed up and my mile 9 was a 7.35 followed by a 7.41 to the finish.

My finishing time of 1 hour 17 minutes and 27 seconds was nearly 3 minutes better than the time I recorded 2 years ago so that has got to be good.

Once again Stowmarket Striders put on a very well organised event. It really is first class and I would urge anyone reading this who is local to support this race in the future and give it a go. All the marshalls were smiley and had a word of support and encouragement.

There were 149 finishers at todays race with Newmarket Joggers winning the team race. This is a bit down on last year when 168 completed the course