The results

So how did my decisions for the Flitwick 10k work out?  I won't bother to review the race because it was much the same as last year.  Although one thing that did annoy me was the entry form making a big fuss about making sure that you put a 'large' stamp on your SAE or your race entry pack wouldn't get to you... and when it arrived it was two sheets of A4 paper saying where the race was, when it started, and that we had to pick up our numbers and chips on the day.  They could have EMAILED that little information out, for goodness' sake.

Running it at all: well, I got round, which was the whole point.  I didn't have to walk, which was a pleasant surprise.  It took about 41 minutes, which even tells me that it might be worth attempting to do the midweek league races (thank goodness).

Race strategy: I simply didn't dare go fast.  But my 'jog' was fairly steady, at about 42-minute pace.  Just like at Sandy, my knee felt a little stiff after only a minute or two, but nothing worrying.  But this time it stayed that way - mostly.  A couple of times I had to change direction suddenly, and it didn't like that.  And in general a little pain just below my knee kept coming and going.

After a while I found I was speeding up a bit and overtaking people, but I always felt that if I tried to consciously push on and go faster I'd get myself into trouble.  Thankfully I was catching enough people to keep things interesting.  Right at the end John Franklin beat me in a sprint finish.  Well, only he was in the sprint finish, which explains why I came off second best!

Contact lenses: the question I asked myself when wondering whether to put my contact lenses in was 'well, how likely is it that my glasses will steam up or my face will get too sweaty to wear them?'.  What I should have asked was 'how much water am I likely to spill over my glasses when trying to take a drink from the water station?'  Since the answer would have been 'enough to embarrass even a four-year-old' perhaps I should have taken the other option on this one.

Listening to the iPod: well, I ran with it, but didn't actually use it.  I thought I'd wait until all the runners spread out, but actually that didn't happen until much later than normal (it's busier in the 41-42 minute part of the race than 36-37 minutes).  Normally it'd be single file by 2 or 3k, but this time it was more like 5k.  By which time I was more interested in enjoying the view (I didn't realise you could see Sharpenhoe Clappers from the route - well, the visibility was really poor last year).

Choice of clothing: I was running faster and for less time than I expected, so I probably could have done without the extra layer.  Oh well.  It hid the MP3 player.

So my injury has improved.  But it's not fixed.  The resting, stretching, massaging approach may be working (but since it's not possible to do a controlled test in these circumstances, we can't be certain that rest alone wouldn't have had the same result).  But it's probably worth seeing if a physio has any other ideas...