There have been some inspirational athletic feats in Hyde Park over the past 18 months. Not me. Not today. Hyde Park – the grey setting of the annual Serpentine New Year’s Day 10k – was wet, windswept and wild. The new year had awoken with a hangover. Some races you enjoy; some you endure. Today was endure, endure, endure. Setting out too fast I went through 5k in around 17.30. Several minutes of feebleness ensued. I searched for blame. Christmas indulgence? A fortnight of iffy training? The remnants of illness? I scraped over the line with eight seconds to spare before the clock hit 36 minutes. A hurricane, meanwhile, was blowing across the Serpentine.