On 9th August, I ran the Tatton Park 10k. This was my second race of 2025, having run the Brooklyn Half Marathon in May after 216 days out injured. My main focus this year is to get back to running consistently and get as prepared as possible for the Chicago Marathon in October. With that in mind, I haven’t been training for this 10k specifically, just logging miles and building up from zero.

In 2021 I raced the Chase the Sun Tatton 10k as my first post-COVID lockdown race and set my 10k PB here. I did three 10k’s in 2023, each one slower than the previous and all some way off the time I ran at Tatton Park in 2021. I have started to think that I might not get back to running close to 37:30, especially now that I am heading towards 44 years old and coming back from a serious achilles injury.

As ever, the organisation by RunThrough here at Tatton Park was spot on; this is an event which they put on more or less every month and is well established. This was my 7th time racing around Tatton Park, and despite the rolling hills, I have somehow set my 3 fastest 10k’s here; I just seem to run well in this park.

Splits: 6:13, 6:16, 6:40, 6:58, 6:26, 6:46, 6:38

My goal this time was to try and get a sub-40-minute time, but with no speed training since September, I don’t really know where I was going to end up. I was setting off at sub 40 pace and just see where that gets me, or more so, how long until I blow up with no real aerobic base to sustain a prolonged hard effort.

The first mile is flat with a bit of an out & back at the end of the mile and start of mile 2. With it being flat, feeling fresh and being dragged along by those around me, I was able to set off at 6:13/mi, slightly quicker than sub 40 pace, although, technically, quicker than sub 40 pace is still sub 40, just a bit more sub 40…. how many more sub 40’s could I get in this paragraph? Mile 2 comes off that out & back and heads downhill towards the lake before turning off for a mile through the woods. Again, that downhill part meant I was still holding on to the optimistic pace of mile 1, a little slower at 6:16/mi, but on the whole, feeling ok.

Now, that third mile in the woods and heading back onto the main path (pictured below), is where I didn’t feel so good. The woods part is on a dirt path; there are a few small lumps in the road, and well, I’m looking for excuses here, but I slowed to 6:40 for that mile. Having run here many times before, I knew mile 4 was all uphill to the turnaround point, and struggling on mile 3 before the hill wasn’t a good place to be.

The pace slowed even more on mile 4 to 6:58. Every time I have run here mile 4 is my slowest mile, and mile 5 is more often than not, my fastest mile. That 1 mile uphill drag to the turnaround point turns into a 1 mile downhill. Chance to open up the legs and make up the time lost on mile 4. I did do that, I managed 6:26, but it was laboured, not the easier running you hope from running downhill, which suggests I was pushing it.

As mile 2 was downhill, mile 6 is now heading back up that hill to the finish, already feeling laboured and with 5 miles in the legs, I felt like I was running through mud, treading water, not moving with any rhythm or pace. At least I was moving forward,d so that’s something.

I tried to pick up the pace in the last quarter mile into the finish, but there was nothing. I was passed on the way into the finish, such was the lack of pace on my part.

I crossed the line in 40:56 in 29th place out of 693. I didn’t get the sub 40 I had hoped. Let’s be real here though. I am 6 weeks back running after spending 7 and a half months out injured with zero miles run up to mid-May, so standing on a start line feels like a win, being able to run again and race other people is a win. Yes, the time is my slowest 10k since 2016, and I didn’t get a sub 40 but that 40:56 is faster and further than I could have run a few months back. This is the stepping stone to running the Chicago Marathon in 2 months, making that comeback from a serious injury to racing 10k’s and building up to a marathon.