Corrida de Houilles

The Corrida de Houilles is the traditional end of year race in the town of Houilles. Over the years, this race has grown into a high-quality international competition with a number of top-class international athletes showing up to take on the 3 lap course. It's not an easy course either with a good hill lasting 350 metres in the loop which has to be ascended 3 times. This year, it was also the final for another challenge: the James v. Nico 2010 challenge with the scores at 2-2 for the year, this race was to be the decider.

After a tough series which saw me off to a good start at Rambouillet, literally exploding Nico after 7 km and leaving him for dust, things went downhill at Fontenay le Fleury for the 10km there (such a low point that I stopped writing my blog at this point). I was racing this having run the Paris Marathon a month earlier and with the heat and the race fatigue form the marathon, I was in no shape to run competively, and Nico overtook me at 7km in this race at which point I dropped out. Definitely the nadir of my running in 2010. So we were at 1-1 at this point. Nico had been improving rapidly throughout the year, coming into form after beginning running mid-2009. The next challenge was Orgerus (wot no blog!), a 15km race in early June. Nico and I were together until the 7 km mark and then I tired a little letting him escape so another victory to him. The revenge was in September at Conflans, my favourite 10 km race of the season. I had started marathon training and was in better shape than earlier in the year. What promised to be a close event turned into a stroll in the park, with Nico not worrying me at all in this race, allowing me to recover in the series and now tying at 2-2. What was going to happen today ?

We met up at the club before the race so that we could go there together. Nico and Mireille were already there when I arrived and Miguel, as coach for the race, drove us in his car to Houilles. The banter began early with me telling Nico that he'd obviously enjoyed his Christmas lunch as I could tell be the size of his stomach and he answered in much the same vein. I could tell that he was stressed by the race as he was quieter than normal, and I was concentrated, telling myself that I was to do my best. My pronostics for the race results had already been posted: Gérald, Nico, me then Mireille. However, I wasn't going to go down without a fight, but I have to admit that having seen Nico in training and the space he creates in our intervals, I didn't believe that I was in the same shape that he is at the moment.

We arrived at Houilles and saw Eric and Gérald as we jogged around the 3.3km course. Gérald gave us the usual "I'm not in great shape, I'll be taking this easy" rubbish as we warmed-up. None of us were convinced though as we've seen Gérald in training and recently he's been flying. The next pleasant surprise was to see Laurence who come along to watch the race, wrapped up in a thick overcoat and 2 pair of gloves! This cheered me up no end and I promised her to do my best. We lined up for the start of the race in almost ideal conditions: dry, no wind and a temperature of about -1°C. It was cold but not as cold as predicted (-9°C forecast initially). The gun went, 4 times in fact andI thought for a moment it was a false start but since no-one slowed down, I wasn't going to be the only one to stop now. Mireille had started fast and was just ahead of me as we left the flat section and started up the hill for the first time. I pulled her in and ran up the hill alongside her. I made sure to stretch out down the hill as soon as we'd passed the top and at this point Nico came past me and we went through the first kilometre all together in 3:29.

We turned left onto a flatter section at this point and Gérald sprinted past to catch up with Nico. In my head, I was satisfied to be on target for a sub-37 minute time and happy for Nico that he was running a more aggressive race than usual. I was running with Mireille now, slightly surprised that she was runing at this pace since she struggled in the 10km race in St Germain and has been well behind in training recently. We passed through 2 km in just over 7 minutes and I began to feel the pace and when Mireille continued at this speed, I dropped a couple of metres on her. I could see Nico and Gérald about 50m ahead and now Mireille had gained 5m on me. We finished the first lap in this configuration and I threw my headband to Laurence as I went past. I wasn't cold at this speed and looking to be as easy as possible, the headband was just an annoyance.

I passed Miguel at the foot of the uphill section for the second lap; "Let the storm pass and push on", he encourages me as I pass. I'm in the red already and I can't help but smile at his words, does he believe I'm not trying here ? I negotiate the hill slower this time, running the kilometre in 3:44 but I can see from the Garmin that I'm still ahead of the 3:40 pace virtual partner by about 10 seconds so I focus on that information and keep going. This second lap proves to be the killer. I'm nowhere now, no group of runners in front of me to push me on and a lethargy begins to settle in. Unconsciously, I ease off the pace and run through 5 km in 18:25. Mireille has more than 50m advantage over me and I can no longer see Gérald and Nico. I'm on my own now and the usual thoughts of abandoning the race enter my mind, only to be banished rapidly as I don't want to let myself and Laurence down. I finish the second loop and Laurence shouts out to me that I'm nearly there. There's still a lap left yet, but I'm encouraged by the thought of only one more climb up the hill before I can run for home.

I pass Miguel again who shouts out encouragement and gives me a push as I go past. I egt to the top of the hill and suddenly I wake up. Another runner pulls alongside me and tries to overtake and I see that it's Myriam Akdim, one of Mireille's biggest local rivals. This gives me the boost I need to wake up and put some more effort in. She overtakes me and I stay with her. We run for a kilometre like this passing the 8km marker. As we round one of the bends, taking it as tight as possible, I accidently clip her heels and she holds out her hand as if to apologise. I will not give in and as the road bends downhill slightly I push the pace and pass her now. I don't ease off and her breathing in my ear is a permanent reminder of just how close she is. We head into the town centre and pass the 9km marker. 3 and a half minutes of effort I tell myself and maintain the pace. The finishing line comes into sight as we round the last bend. 200 metres to go and I begin to sprint. 2 men come past at a fantastic pace now and I breathe a sigh of relief as I thought it was Myriam. I finish and stop my watch - 37:29 for the 10km. Not bad for the course and I see Gérald and Nico ahead and find out how they've done.

So official results are here for the club:

Eric 35:08 new PB for him
Gérald 36:20 new PB for him too
Mireille 36:53
Nico 36:59 new PB for him

Huge regrets from my part not to have been able to hang on to Mireille during the race but I couldn't take the pace when she left me. I was pleased that I ran a lot better race than last year, beating last year's time by almost 1minute 30 in the process. This is my best time for this course so no real regrets. Quality of the race was outstanding : 369 finishers in total and Gérald ended up in 101 place in 36:20! 13 runners ran under 30 minutes with the winner (Imane Merga) finishing in 27:47 beating Micah Kogo in the final sprint (27:48). These 2 are running at 21.5 km/h!

So, Nico wins the 2010 challenge and hats off to him for finally pulling his act together and showing the pace over 10km that he is capable of. We now have to decide the races for 2011 that will count. I have decided that we will need to race together over 5km, 10km, 15km, half-marathon and marathon to be able to determine next year's champion. All suggestions for races will be studied in detail ! Looking forward to it already and my new year's resolutions are fully prepared.