Bedford Autodrome Running GP 2024

Colin has been doing a run-5k-faster course on the internet along with a few other people. It culminates this week with a 5k to see how much they’ve each improved. For those near enough to Bedford, this coincided with the Bedford Autodrome Running GP.

The Bedford Autodrome is a track designed for fast driving, as opposed to motor racing, but it has opened up to fast running – and slow running – in its Running GP event.

We live near enough to Bedford to get there for the start time of 10:45 am. I had to drive Colin there, and I wondered to myself what I’d do while he was off running.

‘Enter it yourself!’ That annoying little voice comes up with some ridiculous ideas.

‘You enter it!’ I was so not keen.

‘All right, I will.’ Before I could object further, I’d entered it.

I was dreading it, but the day dawned, and off we went to Bedford. My aim was to finish the race.

We found Colin’s training buddies – all conveniently decked out in easy-to-spot eye-jarring orange tops. We did a warm-up together, although it was pretty fast for me, then loitered until it was time to head to the start.

The 5k race was the last to start. The 10k had set off not long before. The marathon runners had been going for some time by the time we started, with all the other distances (20 miles, 16 miles, half marathon) starting somewhere in between.

I set off too fast, of course, but realised pretty quickly, allowing me to settle into a pace under 11 min/mile – still faster than I normally run nowadays. Would I be able to keep it up?

All the race distances were doing laps of the same course. The 5k was one lap; the 10k was two laps, and the longer races were far too many laps! The distance signs along the way were confusing for the longer races, but the 5 and 10k were simple enough. Plus, with only one lap to run, it was hardly likely that you’d do the wrong number.

As I plodded along, I overtook other runners. I liked to think they were 5k runners, but they could’ve been doing any distance. Indeed, one was doing the half marathon, she told me as I passed, after asking me about my distance.

As I plodded along, other runners overtook me. These runners had to be doing longer races than me, otherwise they’d’ve started ahead of me. I’ve seen Olympic athletes on the telly – Paris 2024 is ongoing as I type – and I know they run marathons and other distances faster than my 5k pace, but to actually be overtaken by runners doing longer runs feels weird. Still, it was nothing for me to worry about; I just kept plodding along.

The straight was interminable, and would be considered a hill in the fens. It drained me, and my pace fell to between 11 and 12 min/mile. I did my best not to slow down any more than that, and eventually, I rounded the bend towards the bend towards the finish line.

I gathered myself, and increased my pace; what a killer. It was too early to start a sprint finish, I realised belatedly, but Colin appeared from nowhere, having already finished ten minutes earlier, and spurred me on.

I found a burst of speed from somewhere deep down, and crossed the line jubilantly, breathing hard, 32:58 after the gun had sounded, with a chip time of 32:44. That’s my fastest 5k since the pandemic; I’m calling it my post-pandemic personal best, which I’m delighted with.

Colin’s running course has done him the world of good: he smashed his previous PB, although, to his annoyance, the distance registered short in Strava, which consequently doesn’t recognise his effort as his PB.

I had baked chocolate fudge cupcakes specially for the group to celebrate their achievements. I wanted to make the cakes look orange, but I couldn’t get any suitable food colouring, so I made them taste orange instead. I shared them out to the group as they sat and recovered from their efforts and I talked to the leader’s mother. She was lovely.