The Adidas City Run Fulham 10K
The Fulham 10K trades on speed, but the postrace fun is what sets it apart, says RW’s Rick Pearson
Some races you run for the scenery; others for the kudos. And then there are some that you do purely for the promise of a PB. The Fulham 10K is one such race. It claims to be ‘London’s flattest 10K’, snaking its way through the leafy streets of west London, before finishing close to Parsons Green Tube station.
It’s £40 to enter – or £4 per kilometre, if you like – but the organisers justify that price tag by including a genuinely decent technical T-shirt that you’re duty-bound to wear during the race.
Part of the Adidas City Runs series, which also includes 10Ks in Islington and Shoreditch, the Fulham race attracts more than 5,500 runners There’s a real buzz at the start line, just south of Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC, with participants of all abilities taking their places in their respective starting pens.
Strangely, at the front, is a small selection of people – are they VIPs? Have they paid more? Are they lost? – who get to head off two minutes before everyone else...and then suffer the ignominy of being charged down and overtaken by the speedsters at the front.
I’ve been training for the event with Steve Pinkster, a former neighbour of mine and an RW marathon pacer. We’re both hoping to finish in under 37 minutes – if not at London’s flattest 10K, then
when? – and the prospect of trying that hard is filling me with significant pre-race dread. The weather, though, is perfect: a clear, crisp autumnal morning, the kind in which Eliud Kipchoge recorded a sub-two marathon. A man can dream…
The early miles take us round Stamford Bridge stadium. Resisting the urge to boo (I’m a Crystal Palace fan, but will need the extra oxygen later on), I attempt to quickly get into a rhythm as the route heads south along fashionable Fulham Road. This street was once immortalised in song by folk-rock pioneers Jethro Tull: (‘There was a rush along the Fulham Road/There was a hush in the passion play.’) Musical scholars remain sceptical as to whether Ian Anderson and co were referring to the stampede of a 10K race, but today those lines feel fitting.
The course – on wide, closed roads – is fulfilling its promise of being flat. But flat isn’t the same as easy. And this doesn’t feel easy at all. In Matt Fitzgerald’s book, How Bad Do You Want It?, he describes distance running as a ‘fire walk’: the more mentally tough you are, the further you can walk on the hot coals. At 5km, I’m feeling the heat and my resolve is in danger of melting away.
But the packed field and generous pockets of enthusiastic support are a boon, as is the thought that a postrace pint is now, theoretically, less than 20 minutes away. Plus,
I’m running stride for stride with Steve: if he can stick with the pace, perhaps I can, too.
The course now shadows the Thames in the direction of the Hurlingham Club, a swanky private members’ club frequented by author Jeffrey Archer and actor Trevor Eve, among others. (Alongside being London’s flattest 10K, Fulham can surely claim to be London’s poshest 10K, too, although Kew Gardens, with its own race, might have something to say about that.)
Running past houses I’ll never afford, I suddenly remember some advice I’d read – no doubt in the pages of RW – about a technique used by Paula Radcliffe. When the going got tough, instead of focusing on the pain, she used to count slowly to 100 in her head. I try this, but there’s a problem: Paula knew that by the time she’d reached 100, she’d have covered a mile; I, on the other hand, have covered roughly 400m. Disheartened, I revert to my old technique: fixating on the pain and feeling increasingly sorry for myself (sports psychology book to follow).
But with only a kilometre to go, and the support building in number and volume, even the most self-pitying of runners can find something in the tank. One last effort and I cross the line in 36:50. Steve also breaks the 37-minute mark, and hundreds, if not thousands, of others will also have recorded 10K PBs. There are plenty of food and drink options allowing runners to toast their success; pubs and restaurants abound in this part of town and are quickly filling up with runners and their supporters.
It’s now, perhaps, that this race comes into its own. There are nicer routes, faster fields and better bargains to be had. But if you live in, or near, London and like the idea of a PB followed by a pint or two, then the Fulham 10K is the best in the west.