The most interesting thing for me here is the data on how I ran during the last 7km (from 35 to 42km).  Apparently I overtook 455 runners during this time, and only 5 runners passed me.  As I said in my race report I kept my pace going steady until the finish, which clearly was not quite the same for just about everyone else around me.  I’ll take that as a positive thing :)

Training over the past few weeks had gone really well and I stuck to my planned training schedule really well.  The easy runs were easy, the hard runs hard and I was the best prepared I’ve ever been.  In the last couple of weeks before the race you taper down your training with the result being that you feel as fresh as a daisy on race day.  Well, for some strange reason which I cannot understand my quad muscles were aching towards the end of last week – this should not be the case!  I just didn’t understand why.  I put this to the back of my mind.  Perhaps it was just a phiggle (a phantom niggle!!).

Sharon and I were up early at 5:40am, breakfast was consumed and then we headed to Twickenham station to meet up with Chris (from parkrun) for the 7:03 train.  At Waterloo we met up with Danny, Nick and Ann and then made our way onto the super busy train (standing room only) to the start area at Blackheath.

The usual routine in the start area was followed – queue for toilet, go to toilet, go to back of queue and queue for toilet… and repeat.  At about 25 past nine we were happy down to ‘race weight’ and Sharon and I took our bags (with warm post-race clothes) and dropped them off for transport to the finish.

The toilet queues... before they got really busy!

Sharon then headed off to her starting area (the areas, or ‘pens’ are based on estimated finishing time) and I went to mine.  I was back in pen 1 again which ensured a pretty swift start.  After the starting gun went at 9:45am I crossed the line after about 50 seconds.  The electronic chip timing that you have on your shoes means that whatever time you start you’ll get accurate timing.

The first couple of miles were busy and we all started off pretty slowly but before long I was on pace and pushing steady.  The weather was fantastic – cool and sunny – and although there was a bit of a breeze with the number of people running and supporters at the roadsides there’s very little in the way of headwinds slowing you down.

After about four miles or so I could feel that my quads weren’t right which was very frustrating.  I couldn’t explain why but decided that I would continue on at my pace (I really didn’t have any other choice) and try and tick off the miles close to 7:10 miling pace.  The first few miles were paced approximately 7:12, 7:15, 7:03, 6:59, 7:01, 7:12, 7:03, 7:02… and so on.

Just before the turn to Tower Bridge. That's me in the blue in the middle. Photo: Andy Wingate

The early mile support on the course was fantastic.  Music (loved running past the South London Jazz Orchestra), bands, people screaming and shouting.  It was awesome.  Cutty Sark was amazing and the wall of sound when you get to and cross Tower Bridge at just before the half way mark.

13.1 miles was ticked off in a time of 1:33:56.  Doubling this time would give an even split finish time of 3:07:52.  That’d be lovely!  Just after this point I caught up with, said a quick hello and then edged past Mike Peace, a fellow club runner.  Mike is an absolute legend.  He’s run the London Marathon every year – and I mean every year since it started.  This is his 32nd year running the race and he is one of the Ever Present runners – a club you can leave but no longer join.  There are now 16 people remaining who have run every year since 1981.

Shortly after 14 miles you head down Narrow Street.  This is the main spot where I took photos from last year.  It was so so crowded.  I was looking out for Kirsty (and family) and spotted her in her usual place.  Great screaming/shouting and a little high-five.  Love it.

You then head into Docklands.  This is always a tough time and you have to concentrate hard to stay to your split times.   I just about managed this.  I knew I’d gained a few seconds in the first half so had some leeway if I dropped off of the pace at all during the final 10 miles or so.  It was good to see fellow clubmate Marie.  I said hello, she asked how I was doing and I said something like “I’ve been better.”

There was no such ‘wall’ to fight through today (well if there was it was in my legs really early in in the race).  I hydrated well on sports drinks and water and had energy/carbohydrate gels approximately every five miles.

After 20 miles you’re back on the main road to the finish.  There’s only 10k to run and looking at my watch I (just) had to run a 10k of around 45 minutes to get to the finish in under 3 hours 10!  Surely that was possible.

Although my legs were hurting and felt like they were on fire that was the only problem.  I wasn’t breathing at all heavily.  I said to myself that I’ll push on as best I can close or better than target pace.  Ignore the pain and run till my legs refuse to run any more.  That’s all I can do.  I wanted to get this time last year at Brighton but didn’t, and I could happily go through some pain to get the time that I wanted today.  Toughen up.

Just before 21 miles I remember hearing a great tune (DJ Fresh, Gold Dust) pumping out from one of the super sound sound systems on the course.  Upon further investigation with the help of Google Maps it was coming from Limehouse Town Hall!  Nice work there whoever was in charge.  This gave me a great boost.

When you’re feeling strong and positive then the final miles are awesome.  You overtake so many people.  You do have to weave a little around people and be aware that anyone at any point could suddenly stop and start walking (or clutching their legs with cramp!).

During the final miles I remember overtaking a chap from Thames Turbo Triathlon Club and a couple of members from another local club, The Stragglers.  I obviously said “Go Turbos” and “Go Stragglers” at I went past in support – as you never know they may say the same if/when they come past you a few minutes later!

At about 25 miles I caught up with Sean from our club.  He was’t having the best of days.  He then stepped up the pace and I ran with him for about 30 seconds or so before he dropped back again (although he eventually beat me over electronic ‘chip’ time).

The main thing I did today which I’d not done previously was ignore the distance that my GPS was reporting.  I checked mile splits based on the mile markers out on the course, and not what my watch was telling me.  If I believed my watch then I’d be off of my pace (it measured the 26.2 mile course at 26.6 miles).  This was the best thing I did before the race (other than train!).

Towards the finish there were 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m and a 385 yards to go sign (at the 26 mile point).  I pushed on all the way to the finish and with the finish line clock reading under 3 hours 10 (and knowing that it took me about 50 seconds to cross the start line) then I knew I’d got the time I wanted.

My finishing time was 3 hours 9 minutes and 9 seconds.  Result.  Job Done.  This now means I can automatically enter the race for the next two years.  My first half as I said earlier was 1:33:56.  My second half was 1:35:13.  Losing a minute and 17 seconds over the second half isn’t too bad I’d say.  I just wish my legs didn’t hurt so much from so early on.  I also now have a really nasty blister appear on one of my toes which is going to be a case of bye-bye-toenail very very soon!

My finishing position was 1,958th out of 36,672 finishers.  I was 1,009th in the male 18-39 age group.  In 2009 my position was 2,699 so I’ve moved up 741 places.  This was also a big personal best time for me over the distance by 10 minutes and 37 seconds.

A couple of people who’d been tracking me online (Kirsty and Emma) said that my 5km splits were metronomic and machine like.  Mike P. who I went past shortly after half way said the same.  My 5km splits were as follows: 22:16, 22:18:, 22:15, 22:17, 22:26, 22:49, 22:46, 22:38.  The final 2.2km to the finish was run in 9:24 which would work out to be a 21:26 5k split.  Here it is as a pretty little picture.

After finishing I ate and drank pretty much everything I had with me and in my post race ‘goodie bag.’  I then went for a bit of a walk, tracked Sharon online and spent about an hour or so cheering runners along Birdcage Walk.  I then waited for Sharon to come past and then I went and met her shortly after the finish.  We then met up with Kirsty, Heather and Danny and caught the train home.

The support on the course was amazing and I found it really encouraging.  I got plenty of shouts from clubmates and friends and the ones who I remember cheering me on were as follows - Andy P., Phil A., Andy/Emma/Suzan, Simon B./Simon, Kirsty/Orlando/Mike/Liz, Deb & Simon, Jess/JJ/Anna, Ali Y., Phil K, Marc & Julia, John L., Chris O., Nigel R., Clare K.  Thanks to all of you and sorry to anyone I missed.  I know there were a few others but I cannot remember their names – sorry!

I think I was much more ‘in the zone’ this time around compared with in 2009.  I was much more concentrated on my pace and getting the time I wanted (needed).

What’s the plan now… well, another Ironman distance triathlon in a few weeks time (time to get back on the bike again) and then perhaps a quieter autumn…

I slept reasonably well, woke at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep but that was OK, to be expected. We had breakfast (my usual pre-long-run rice pudding), kit on, off to the station. We had planned on taking the 7:03 from Twickenham, which wasn’t showing on the boards. Eeep! Transpired all was well, it was running. We waited for the train, writing 5, 10, 15, and 20 mile splits on our arms.

Scrawling 5 mile splits up my arm...

The train arrived, on we hopped after meeting up with Chris and off to Waterloo. I think we look more relaxed than we felt!

Sharon and Crispy looking ready to go

Met Danny at Waterloo and then off on the train to Blackheath, crazy! Trains were so full, just unbelievable numbers of people. We walked up to the start area, the sun was shining, nice and cool. All good. We did the usual, “queue for the loo, come out, then practically get back in the queue again” thing and before we knew it we were dropping off our bags and going to the start.

David told me that at every mile marker (generally a big arch of balloons) he was going to press his lap button and leave me a kiss, so that when I pressed my lap button, I could collect it :) I only missed one kiss which was mile 21, I never saw a marker for it. So not bad.

So, back to the start. I lined up in my pen and it only took about 20 minutes to get over the line. The first mile was nice, fairly clear and easy to run, Ann went past me looking great. I kept calm and just pootled along. The second mile was funny because of the speed humps and the marshalls were there with signs, shouting, “hump”! Of course, there’s always one clever so and so who shouts, “Not right now, I’m busy”…haha. Ahem. I knew that the Runner’s World 11 minutes per mile pacer would be close by and sure enough, the group was there. They were flying along though! Goodness, it felt fast.

I had heard the best advice on Marathon Talk, where Tom advised that instead of auto-lap on your Garmin, you turn that off and press the lap button yourself when you go under the mile markers. Seriously, I was so glad I did that, thank you Tom. I thought that most of my miles were spot on for 11 minute miling, but when I looked at my Garmin it seemed like about 6 miles were too fast, even though I thought they weren’t. Hmmmm. I will analyse it more later. When I can bare to look at the data, right now I cannot.

So I carried on, really not believing I was doing the London Marathon. I was very pleased to see Cutty Sark, as it’s been a while since she has been uncovered – and in the sunshine was very beautiful. I had a good look as I ran by, with her on my left. I can’t really remember the next few miles, clearly uneventful apart from the runner who nearly tripped me dashing behind me to a water station and a lot of weaving from people wearing MP3 players. Ggggrrrr. I still don’t understand why you would choose to do the London Marathon wearing headphones, not only is it dangerous but don’t you want to hear the crowds, DJ’s and bands?

So, there I was, tripping along…when my head/brain/legs decided that they didn’t like it anymore. I think it was somewhere in the 11th mile that I first walked. I walked with purpose, head up but couldn’t understand why I was needing to walk. I really couldn’t. My head couldn’t understand it. I should have been more than able to go that pace, for much much longer than that. It’s very disconcerting.

The next bit I remember is coming around a corner, and seeing Tower Bridge. I was walking (again!), so I made one of me deals which was to get to such and such a place and then run, so I did. I saw Ann again at this point and we went along together for a little bit. Then I felt OK for a little while, I knew that soon I would be through Halfway (I went through Half on target) and then I was whizzing along (well, it felt like it to me!) into Narrow Street, where I knew Kirsty, Liz, Mike and Orlando would be. I saw them from quite a way off and gave a big wave. They were shouting like mad and it was so wonderful to see them. I had said to Kirsty before that if I was going well, I wouldn’t stop, I would just squeeze her hand – and that’s what I did.

I can’t remember much about the next couple of miles but somewhere at close to 17 miles, I felt hideous. I think it was in my head. Suddenly I was upon “Mudchute” – which is the Pirate support point. I walked by, calling over that I didn’t like it. I hadn’t planned on stopping but decided that in actual fact I wanted to. I saw Holly and told her I hated it. Then I walked back up to Meldy and Ditchy, saw Jj and Happychap. Sweaty, salty hugs and me saying, “I hate it, I really hate it, I’m not doing it again”. There waiting was Seren, who ran along with me for a while until I banished her – when I am running badly, I am better to be on my own so I don’t bring others down with my negativity. Bless her, we had a chat for about a mile I think and then off she went. Actually we went a bit back and forth, “Don’t I know you?” she said to me :) In this mile I heard Deb and Simon from Ranelagh cheering for me and I called to them that it wasn’t good, I didn’t like it. Next I knew Simon was alongside me, telling me to be strong. A little further up the road and Nicola and Stuart were on the left, cheering and shouting, waving the Pirate brolly (bet they were glad that they had that later on when the rain started!).

So, there was me in the depths of despair for nearly 3 miles. It was very odd, really a strange experience. I was making all these mental calculations, all the “well, I’m not going to go sub-5 now, what will I do?”. I decided that I would walk for 2 minutes at the start of each mile and then go from there. It took me a couple of miles to decide that! Clearly there was poor blood supply to my brain at this point ;)  Somewhere in Canary Wharf (I think) I saw Kay, who had come up to cheer on. I was bimbling along and suddenly heard my name being shouted. I looked to my left and saw Kay, I went over and gave her one of those salty, sweaty hugs and told her it was so hard. She was very positive and sent me on my way. It was so lovely to see her and spurred me on again.

We came around a little corner at about 20 miles and I could see the Gherkin! Hurrah! I suddenly felt a bit better. Odd. Somewhere in this mile I took a quarter of orange from a little person by the road (contraband!), which was the nicest thing I have ever put in my mouth. I chewed all the lovely cold juice out of it and then spat out the flesh (didn’t want to eat it in case of tummy problems). So there I was, going along, having a little walk when i realised it was Fetch Point coming up – I hadn’t remembered that Kirsty, Orlando and Mike would be there, but they were. Yet another cuddle, yet more saying how hard it was. Hmm, recurring theme for the day ;)

After the 22 mile point (which I was happy to see as I hadn’t seen a 21 mile marker), I realised it felt mostly down hill. Funnily enough, I have just watched the marathon coverage and seen a lorry with a band playing on it. I remember the woman with the microphone saying, “Only a couple of miles to go”…and me yelling back, “4 miles, 4!! A couple.” Pfft! I got to mile 23 and thought, “It’s only a parkrun to go, anyone can do a parkrun”. This cheered me up for a while. I calculated that I could still get under 5:20 if I could keep going and minimise the walking. Mile 24 was quite nice, running through the Blackfriars Underpass. It was cool, dark, away from the blazing sunshine, quiet and I was overtaking loads of people as they were all strolling through! David reckons it’s because there are no crowds to see you walking. I really liked that Underpass. I walked up the exit to the tunnel, taking on board some more lucozade with my final gel and set off again.

It wasn’t long before I saw the big Stragglers flag a little bit before 25 miles. I ran by and saw the lovely Ray cheering me on, I gave them a big smile and carried on. I knew that it would be over soon. I still could get under 5:20.

With just over a mile to go I saw the Houses of Parliament, which was cool and the sky was really getting dark. We rounded the corner and I heard a shout of, “Go Ranelagh”. I looked to my right and it was David! I was delighted to see him, so delighted.

Sharon running up Birdcage Walk, not responding to her name, only "Go Ranelagh"!

In the distance I could see a sign, “800m to go”. Only 800m? Two laps of the track? Brilliant! It went on for fecking ages though, seemed to take forever to 600m to go. I was running along, overtaking people all the way, which was good (not for them I realise). I rounded a corner and there it was. The, “385 yards to go” gantry. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to do it. I glanced at my watch and saw I would safely finish under 5:20. I was running towards the finish line and as I saw the photographers, I was crying, so I will no doubt have ruined all my finish photos. As soon as I crossed the line, Darren (who was volunteering on the finish) came over and gave me a hug. Guess what, I told him I didn’t like it ;)

I walked to get the chip taken off my shoe, then got my medal. The thing that really had spurred me on. The lady put the medal around my neck and I stood and looked at it and burst into tears. She said well done and looked like it had got a bit smoky ;) Walked over to have my photo taken, then to get my baggage and then headed down to the exit, I heard and saw David through the little fence. It was like talking to him through a prison barrier! I was sobbing and telling him I hated it and then I said, “Please tell me you got your time, we can’t both have fucked up”…he told me he had. Hoooray! Then I cried some more at the happy news.

Plodded along to the designated meeting point of letter R. Saw Kirsty and Orlando, had a massive cuddle and started to cry again. Then David was on his way and we saw Heather, more tears (no wonder I was dehydrated!) and in the pouring down rain we decided to walk to Waterloo. It was definitely a good idea – and I am sure it has helped my legs today. Met up with Danny and headed home, regaling one another with tales of the day.

Sharon with her medal on the way home

I knew it would be tough. I have enough involvement in my life with marathon runners and Ironmen to know it’s tough. It was hard in a different place though than where I expected. Everyone talks about the marathon being two races, one of 20 miles and one of 6.2 miles. Except it wasn’t like that for me. Mine was a race of three parts. Start-17 miles, pretty happy overall, still on target time. Miles 17-19, really, honestly, horrendous. Mile 20 onwards, overall much better again, especially from mile 23. I think once I had realised my sub-5 target was gone, I lost heart. I had to really talk to myself to get going again but I did it. I think my negativity dragged me down, if I ever do another marathon, that’s something I really need to work on. I have a tendency in life to look on the “down” side of things, which didn’t help me yesterday. I definitely need more self-belief. However, I then re-assessed and worked out the best time I could get from the day and worked for that instead, so that’s a positive too.

Yesterday, my overwhelming feeling was that I had let everyone, including myself, down. I couldn’t stop crying about it. I still feel like that, I think it’s going to take a long time for that feeling to go. I am so disappointed. I know what I am capable of and something (my head?) took it away from me. Right now, I cannot ever imagine wanting to run a marathon again. I also know that feeling changes for many people, so I shall never say never.

So, here I am, Monday morning, reading my lovely messages and texts again. My legs are feeling OK. I can walk downstairs pretty normally. I am still gutted – and I am trying very hard not to be. I am trying to look on the positives of the day and I am starting to feel a bit proud of what I have done, so that’s a good feeling. I finished a marathon, not many people do that, I have an awesome medal, a cool Finishers tee and I raised lots of money for Macmillan – thank you so much for all your donations, I’m sure it’s part of the reason I kept going. I also loved the training, I liked it much more than the race itself! Even better for me is that David got his Good for Age (GFA) time, so he is guaranteed entry for the next two years without having to go into the ballot. I am so proud of how he trained and then executed his race plan. Amazing :)

There are so many people who have helped me get to the start and through the day. I have received so much love and support from everyone, so many amazing messages and emails and cards. I am very lucky. I am bound to forget someone but I want to try and list as many as I can, more so that I can remember. So bare with me. You can look away from the Oscar style speech now if you would like.

To David, who has been strong for me all these weeks, despite everything going on. He essentially was “forgotten” as the London Marathon became all about me. I love him so and I am so proud of him. He’s fabulous. I think he’s a keeper ;)

To Kirsty, who was such a wonderful supporter on the course and has been so supportive through my training. It’s been so lovely being able to run with you again, everyone needs a running buddy – and for a long time, we couldn’t run together. Now we can :) Only one Colin cake has disappeared so far…!

To Ann and Ray, who have helped me more than they will ever know. I carried Ray with me in my head, “Sharon, slow down!”. Sadly I took his advice a little too literally! Ann, you will be back, I know it. I’ll train with you but I might not actually stand on that start line again!

To Heather, who seemed to have faith that I would do it when I never really thought I could. You are such an awesome marathoner and so very inspiring.

To Tom & Helen, who have been incredibly supportive of my road back into running. From the Marathon Talk, “Jantastic” in 2011, which set me back on my running path, to all the advice they have given me. Their friendship, love and support has been invaluable. H, I am so proud of how you ran yesterday a mere 6 months after giving birth! So wonderful and so strong.

To the Twitterati and the Wingers, who have put up with my selfishness and moaning and reporting back of splits after every run! You have given me such great advice, as a result of your wealth of experience. Thank goodness I have you all. Special thanks to the beautiful Waffy, who was the only person besides David who knew the extent of my foot problem after the Cranleigh 21 and who kept me calm when it was happening. Her foot held up yesterday, too :)

To Paul, who I personally blame for me doing this. If it hadn’t been for parkrun, I would never even be able to run a mile, let alone a marathon!

To Liz, Mike, Orlando, Simon, Deborah, Nicola, Stuart, Kay, Darren, the Ranelagh Harriers and the Stragglers, thank you for your shouts yesterday. It’s amazing that people take the time out of their lives to come and cheer runners on. It means so much.

After a bath, Skins on, looking at toenails and chaffage (good for me on both counts, not so much for David on the toenail front!), we went to the annual Ranelagh post-marathon get together last night, for a natter and a nosh and a Crabbies or two ;) Shiny medals ahoy!

David & Sharon with their shiny medals

Oh, for the mini-stats. I finished 28828th (36672 finished) in 5:16:55. I was position 1551 in my age group, with an age graded performance of 45.6%.

So that’s it. My London Marathon. Done and dusted. Phew. If I was to describe it on one word, I would say, “Overwhelming”!

I had my last Sunday run of the training schedule today, wearing all the kit I might possibly need (hot/sunny/rainy/cold variables all covered with arm warmers, knee socks and visor). I only look marginally like a total doofus. Ahem. My marathon shoes also got a little spin, with their new hot pink Greeper laces too. I had a lovely run with Ann, Ray and a bunch from The Stragglers running club (I was wearing my Ranelagh vest so probably stuck out even more but never mind) through Bushy and Home Parks. I’ve never been in Home Park before, so that was good to be somewhere new. Upon my return home, David asked me all kinds of questions about where I went but quite honestly, I never remember, so maybe somewhere new actually isn’t important at all ;) Every now and again I heard a little call out from Ann or Ray about going too fast. They will be absolutely in my ears next Sunday if I start speeding up when I shouldn’t be. They are wonderful and have been so kind and helpful to me in my training. I do so hope that Ann gets the time at London that she deserves after all of her training and hard work.

I am currently swinging wildly between excitement and fear. I am assured that this is entirely normal before your first marathon. To that end, I am just going with it. David is, of course, being his usual calm self. Good job there’s not two of me in this house ;)

Usual pre-race preparation and faffing and suddenly we were in the road and off. My plan was to do 11 minutes per mile, not to set off too quickly, eat 6 gels (bleurgh) and drink my drinks. So, how did I do? Hmmm. Well, I set off too quickly (and then had another couple of miles around 8-10 which were also too fast), only managed 5 gels, did drink my drinks and more besides from the lovely water station marshals and finished in 11:11 average pace.

There were some Very Bad Times today. I was essentially running on my own, no iPod (as I won’t be wearing one in the marathon), bibbling along, walking much more than I thought I would, or indeed ever intended to. When David came past me at about 14.5 miles (it’s a lapped course), I said, “I don’t think I can do another lap”. My head was seriously messing with me.

Before I knew it, I had to make the decision about running a third lap or not. David told me in the car that he was worried I wouldn’t do it. He had a plan to come up to me at the finish and try to get me to run a bit further. Apparently, it wasn’t until the very last minute that I gave a double thumbs up and headed onto the third lap. I met Kirsty along here, walked whilst eating a gel and then we set off again. We had already decided she wasn’t going to run the final lap with me and to that end she’d done her run already. However, she tripped along with me for a little bit and at a convenient moment, she offered again to run with me, which I politely declined and off I went on my own again. I needed to do it on my own, I really did.

Anyway, I carried on, running the flats and downs and walking as fast as I could up the hills. I got a little burst of feeling good between about 18 and 19 miles, which essentially set me up for not finishing last! I have never been so happy to see a mile marker in a race. When I saw 20 miles, I was delighted. Any old fool can run a mile, right? Well, I had to walk some of it first, as it was the biggest uphill of the course. I ran my little heart out for the last half a mile and tried to finish strongly. Saw Danny just before the 21 mile marker, then David and Kirsty were a little further along and there was the sign I longed for. Finish. Medal. Job done :) A smidge under 4 hours (3:58-ish) and not quite last.

Thanks to Sherpa Kirsty for the suncream and drinks fetching and running and cheering and making me eat something! Thanks to David and Danny for cheering and waiting around for so bliddy long after they finished and to David for making me get in the cold bath when we got home! Lots of lessons learnt, which I guess is the point of doing a 21 mile race a few weeks away from your marathon ;)

The schedule I’ve been following had me down for a long run of 17 miles.  So, I’ve messed that up for starters by running 21 miles but never mind (my session on Saturday wasn’t as long as it could have been so the miles will balance themselves out).  The planned long run pace is also considerably slower than my expected marathon pace so the run shouldn’t feel too difficult and should also not require too much recovery meaning that my mid-week sessions can be run with enough intensity to make me stronger and faster.  That’s the plan anyway!

The run is split into a nine mile loop and then two six mile loops.  The first nine miles were done at around 7:58 pace (a little faster than planned but not too much) and then I gently increased the pace a little, running the next six miles at 7:54 pace.

When it came to the final lap I pushed much harder and ran the next six miles at 7:25 minute miling pace.

After a little over 2 hours and 45 minutes I was over the finish line collecting my medal.  The run went pretty much to plan.  My legs (currently) feel fine and my heart rate averaged 145 bpm which is bang on in my easy long run range.

I’ve another long run planned next weekend and then it’ll be time to start cutting back the milage in advance of the London Marathon.  I can’t wait.

• I didn’t want to injure myself as cross country courses are far from the smooth roads of, er…. roads.
• Saturday afternoon racing (which is when all these races are held) didn’t seem to fit well into my diary.
• Because of the fear of injury and a big race planned (an Ironman race I did in January in New Zealand) I didn’t want to take any more risks here.

So, with the Ironman race behind me and a 17 mile run scheduled as part of my London Marathon training…. and an experiment that the running club were doing by putting the race on a Sunday morning, and the familiar (and just a little bumpy terrain of Richmond Park) I really had no excuses but to take part.  As the race is just under 10 miles long I just had to squeeze in a few miles beforehand to make the total up to 17 miles.  The plan was for about 14 of these miles to be close to marathon pace (around 7:12 minute miling pace).

I put in about 6.75 miles warm-up before the race and then got into position.  As it’s a handicap race everyone sets of at different times (determined by a secret calculation by the club ‘handicapper’) and I felt I had a pretty favourable start time.  With about 15 seconds to go Andy B., said to me something like “You’re going to win this if you put in a good run. My money’s on you!”

I set off far too fast (closer to 10k pace rather than 10 mile pace – and I don’t normally do a 6.75 mile hilly warm-up before a 10k) but kept on pushing.  Before long I caught up with a couple of runners ahead of me and I was feeling alright.  My plan was to push fairly hard and see if anyone overtakes me, and if they do I’d then take stock of the situation and decide what to do next.

Well, about three quarters of the way round the first of two laps I was overtaken by Andy himself.  He said he wasn’t expecting to see me so soon (I felt the same) and he was absolutely flying.  I didn’t have a hope in hell of keeping up with him.

I completed the first lap (about 4.95 miles) in 33.20 which is around 6:44 miling pace.  Hmn, just a touch faster than 7:12 miling (especially on a hilly course).  I knew for sure that setting off so fast was going to make thing tough on the second lap and I wasn’t wrong there.

I really had to push harder to maintain any kind of similar pace (which I understandably couldn’t manage after setting off too fast) and my second lap was one minute 50 seconds slower (34:50) with a pace of around 7:02 miling.  To be honest I thought I was much slower than that during the second lap so I’m quite positive about the second lap time.  Had it been a more important race to me I would have controlled my pacing much better.

With the final results in I finished in 68 minutes 10 seconds and was seventh overall and sixth fastest.  I clearly managed to run 14 miles at marathon pace (actually much faster than I should have) which I’m not too worried about.

My next long run is a 21 miler at the weekend where I’ll be pacing this one exactly as planned…

We last ran this race in 2007, and it was then that I set my Half Marathon PB.  I haven’t bettered it since, admittedly I’ve only run two more Half Marathons since then.  My training has been reasonable, I have lost (so far) 41 pounds in weight, so I was feeling almost prepared.

Fast forward to this morning – I was terrified.  In fairness, I’ve been terrified for the last few days!  I was feeling the pressure (from myself, no-one else might I add) and I was happy to see some friendly faces in the form of lots of the Pirate girls – and even happier to hear from David who had arrived safe and sound after cycling to Bedford from home this morning, as part of a brick training session.

We lined up on the start line, I saw some Ranelagh pals which was lovely.  We were off!  I can barely remember details of the race and it’s less than 12 hours ago.  I set off in a melee and clocked my first three miles starting with a 9.  That sort of wasn’t in the plan.  Ah well, I was having a nice time – then I saw the first hill of the race, a short, sharp incline.  Up and over I went.  The next couple of miles were fine, little bit windy and a bit of a drag up a dual carriageway (speaking of which, if a race asks you not to wear an MP3 player for safety reasons and you wear one anyway, would it serve you right if you didn’t hear a car and got squashed on aforementioned dual carriageway?) slowed me a little but I felt OK.

Mile 7 to 8 I really didn’t feel OK.  What a horrible, headwindy, drag upwards.  I decided that once I got to mile 8, I would have the gel I had in my pocket.  I don’t really “do” gels or drinks when running but I felt I needed it.  I somehow got it into my tummy (bleeurgh!) over the course of a quarter of a mile, timed it like that so I could have some water at the drinks station.  I actually think it helped, whether it’s a placebo effect or really did, I don’t mind.  Still bloody horrible though.

The next few miles just passed in a blur – every now and again I would glance at my watch and think, “ooh, perhaps I’ll get a PB” – but then I remembered that my Garmin was recording the miles slightly early (as it did in 2007), making the total distance 13.2 miles, which then had an effect on my finish time.  Mind you, working that out whiled away a few minutes ;)  I was happy again to see the 10 mile marker, just a parkrun to go.  Hooray.  I carried on, feeling strong, when suddenly at 12.5 miles on my Garmin I thought, “Oh no, my wheels are coming off”.  I could have sat down at the side of the road, I just wanted it to end.  In 2007 I employed the, “Paula Radcliffe Counting Method of Distraction” at mile 10.  This year, it wasn’t until mile 12, so that’s an improvement at least ;)

Before I knew it, I was heading up the final incline to the finish, I just couldn’t do any kind of a sprint finish, my legs were well and truly done for.  I saw David and heard him telling me to push on – all I could reply with was, “I’ve done a PB!”.  I had.  A PB of over 3 minutes – giving me a new Half Marathon best of 2:08:26.  Totally over the moon.  Totally.  If you don’t believe me about how over the moon I was, the photo below taken seconds after the finish shows it pretty well :)

A bit of milling about, a coffee, some catch ups and cheering in, out for scampi and chips and we were homeward bound.  What a day!

If you’re interested in such things, below are my splits from this year.  I’ve looked at my mile splits from 2007 – and the obvious gains were in the tougher bits, although there’s a general gain on every mile.

(1) 9:27, (2) 9:17, (3) 9:43, (4) 9:55, (5) 10:02, (6) 9:53, (7) 9:39, (8) 10:13, (9) 10:06, (10) 9:11, (11) 9:32, (12) 9:37, (13) 9:57, (13.2) 9:42  avg 9:44 (but based as in 2007 on 13.2 distance, I can’t be faffed trying to remove the extra 0.1!)…so obviously really it’s a slower miling pace than that.

This year I finished 1322/1523 and I was 76th in my age category.  I guess that after scoring myself a shiny PB, it means I will be training to stand on that start line at the London Marathon in April…

So, after a slight lack of tapering (meaning a 17:33 ‘one second away from my PB’ at Bushy parkrun on Saturday) I got my bike ready for a very early start. A 5am wake up call on a Sunday is never a good thing but sometimes you just need to get on with things.

I left home just after 5:40am for the 55 mile or so ride to the start of the Bedford Harriers Half Marathon. Although it was cold on the plus-side there was a slight tailwind which I wasn’t complaining about. With sunrise not until just before 8am it was going to be a dark ride for a couple of hours.

The roads around west London were lovely and quiet – even the North Circular up to Hanger-Lane. You rarely get to say that! The route I chose avoided most big roads and I headed up through Harrow and up to Elstree. After crossing the M1 motorway there was a stretch of about 3 miles or so with no street lighting at all so it was pretty damn dark and I had to rely on my (reasonable but not great) bike lights for visibility.

I next headed up to St. Albans, Harpenden, Luton, Clophill and then across to the start in Wooton. I arrived shortly before 9am having ridden for 3 hours 1 minute of cycling at an NP of 237 (TSS 218). Sharon had the car conveniently parked nearby so I packed the bike away and got changed into my running gear. A couple of energy gels before the start and away we went at 10am.

The run was pretty uneventful. I enjoyed it and it was nice to be in such a large race.

I hoped to run close to 1 hour 30 and I think I did myself pretty proud! Going through half way in around 45:10 I crossed the finish line in 1:29:57. Close enough I’d say. I can’t say it was particularly easy. Well, the first half was pretty steady but towards the end I had to concentrate pretty hard to stay on pace and not get dropped by any groups.  I didn’t want to kill myself out on the course today so did hold back a little as this is just one piece of a much bigger picture.

My finishing position (at least in the provisional results) was 173rd out of 1,523 finishers.

Job done.

The Three Molehills - Course Profile

The race is a three leg event that can be run as an individual or as a relay team.  Individual all the way I say :)

Leg 1 – ‘The Box’

A fast start saw me get to the bottom of this Box Hill in probably 15th position or so.  Although I’d raced off at just slower than 6 minute miling pace I knew that this wouldn’t last – and Box Hill would take care of that!  The first obstacle was some stepping stones across a river.  Well I wasn’t expecting those.  Straight after the stepping stones came the steps – around 270 steps that take you up to the top of Box Hill.  These were tough.  You couldn’t run up them – it was just a quick powerful walk/climb up the hill with many other runners all around you.  There was no real room to overtake and everyone around me was going at a speed I was happy with.

Once at the top you run to a turnaround point (a lovely viewpoint which has great views of much of Surrey) and then down Box Hill.  With a severe lack of any kind of hill training (for months if not years) I knew I’d not be prepared for some of the downhills – which I find much harder than going up.  I restrained myself a bit coming down as I didn’t want to completely destroy my quads and because of this I was caught up and passed by a few people on the downhill section.  Once we got onto the flat parts I could keep up a good pace but going down I didn’t want to risk things too much – as this race was more for fun than a position and is just part of the grand race plans for the next few weeks/months.

After 3.63 miles of running and 27 minutes 11 seconds, most of it up and down, you return to the start/finish to start the second leg.  There was stacks of support from spectators and other runners who were running the event as part of relay teams.  I like this style of race as you get plenty of support and as there’s a lot of ‘out and back’ you see other runners who encourage you and you can encourage/support back.  I was very surprised to see an average of 7:23 miling.  Surely I couldn’t keep that up…

Leg 2 – ‘Norbury Manor’

The second leg headed off in the direction of Westhumble and then up yet another incline!  This was a much gentler climb – still hard work but not one that you had to walk up!  It did go on for quite a while but that’s the nature of this event.  Near the top there was a water station with PowerBar gels (the only time I’ve been given gels in a race before I think is in an Ironman triathlon – so top marks to the organisers for sorting this).  I took a gel and some water and continued on.  During the downhill a couple of runners flew past me.  Whenever anyone came past I’d try and see from their race number if they were an individual or relay entrant.  Unfortunately these were individuals.

Two more runners then closed in on me and I decided to try my best and hang on with them.  At the bottom of the descent the three of us were all together and we pushed on as best we could (around 7 minute miling pace) alongside the A24 on the way back to the start of leg three.  My GPS measured leg two as 6.04 miles and it took me 42:31 (7:02 miling).

Leg 3 – ‘Ranmore Ramble’

Leg 3 began in a different direction and headed straight uphill.  A steep incline took us up, up and up and it was just a constant climb all the way up to the top of Ranmore Common. At the start of the leg I heard one of the chaps right behind me say, “I think he’s overcooked it!” about one of the runners ahead who overtook us a couple of miles ago and was now walking.  The three of us ran past him and didn’t see him again.

Once at the top of the hill you run along a quiet road and then through a muddy wooded area which was rather energy sapping.  Another water station at the turnaround point (where I walked for a couple of seconds just to get some water in) and then it was time for the race back down to the finish.  I was still with the two other chaps at this point and we’d helped each other on the climb up.  If it wasn’t for them I don’t think I would have made it up there so quickly.  During the final descent to the finish I couldn’t quite keep up with the other two and they moved off up ahead.  I kept pushing and was really happy to cross the finish line in 1:41:22.  The 4.37 miles that I measured for this leg took me 31:40 (7:14 miling).

In the overall results I was 21st out of 106 individuals (the winner finished in 1:30:50).  Looking at the team relay entries I was beaten by 7 teams (out of 46 overall relay teams).  My overall miling pace for the 14 or so miles was 7:12 miling – which is what I need to be running a marathon in – although I have no plans to run a marathon that hilly!

So, two longish runs in a week – on Tuesday I ran a half marathon in La Santa in Lanzarote.  That I thought was a hilly course – altitude wise that run had a total elevation gain of 620 ft.  I thought that was pretty hilly for a 1 hour 37 run.

As for this run, well, the elevation gain was 1,697 feet!  That’s probably more hill climbing that I’ve run in a whole year!!  As I write this the following evening my legs are truly screwed and I feel like I’ve almost run a marathon.  A couple of hours easy riding on the bike today surely must help.  Only time will tell…

Finally I have to say the course marking was excellent, the water/gel stations fantastic and the marshalls superb.  They were everywhere!  Top marks to Events To Live for a really well organised event.  It was also a nice touch to be greeted by Alan (the race director) as you cross the finish line.  Oh, and I made my best effort with my big hair to get onto the blog of the race photographers for the event – I think I did a good enough job :)

So, at 10am I was on the start line ready to see how my legs would cope with 10 miles of hard effort, especially after a surprise 18.02 time at Frimley Lodge parkrun yesterday (which doesn’t really lend itself to fast times).  I’d not planned to run that hard but had a couple of people were breathing down my neck and that spurred me on.

Anyway, back to today.  Ignoring whoever was around me (there were about 60 runners from Ranelagh Harriers in the race) and just going at my own pace I started off and settled into a pace around 6:15 minute miling.  This would get me over the finish line in 1:02:30 which I’d be really happy with, compared to my previous years times…

• 2006 – 1:11:47
• 2007 – 1:03:09
• 2008 – 1:06:02
• 2009 – 1:02:22
• 2010 – 1:11:48 (was part of a much longer run)

After two or three miles I was running around 6:12 pace on average and thought I’d just try and stick to it.  The first half should feel fairly ‘steady’ which it did and I crossed the 5 mile marker in 31:11 – bang on my PB pace.  I knew the second half would get much tougher, especially when I’d not trained for this race any way whatsoever (my current training is more about going longer and slower as part of my marathon/Ironman prep) so this could get interesting.

Looking at my GPS I went through 10km in 38:31 (28 seconds slower than PB pace).  Interesting…

During the second half of the race I think I kept myself together very well.  Only three people overtook me – one from The Stragglers running club, a Thames Turbo Triathlon Club member and just before the 9 mile mark it was Ranelagh Harriers clubmate Sean P. who drifted past.

I pushed on as hard as I could through to the finish where I crossed the line in 1:01:56 – giving me a new personal best time over the distance by 26 seconds.  I also managed to negative split the race (first five miles was 31:11, the second five was 30:45).  I finished in 125th place overall (there was some really quick times ran this morning) and my age grading was 73.95%.

A good mornings race, that’s for sure.

I started to get back to running again in January this year with the aid of Marathon Talk’s, “Jantastic”…swiftly followed by, “Febulous” and then, “Marchvellous”.  Essentially it meant I started to run again 3 times a week, with my runs getting a bit longer and I even had to “race” a parkrun again.  I was feeling good – but then Marchvellous ended and with it went my motivation.  I stopped running again.

At the very end of April I decided that I needed to do something about it.  Mostly I was being hindered in my running by my weight.  Something somehow clicked in my head and so far I am 30 pounds lighter after 18 weeks.  It’s definitely helping with my running, which in turn makes me want to run more.  This is a Very Good Thing.

So, here we are.  Tuesday 30^th August saw me don my Ranelagh vest for the first time in quite some time – and I was beyond excited!

It was the Ratchford Relays.  This is a women only race at my club, each team consists of one fast, one medium and one slow runner (me!).  There are 6 laps to be done and the traditional ordering is F, M, F, S, M, F.  Each lap is 1km long.  Our team actually became 4 members due to the late arrival of Olivia, who is an awesome 10 year old runner, who ran one of our fast laps.  We controversially swapped our order as well to take advantage of Olivia’s fresh legs!  Before I knew it, I was off!

When I did the Relays in 2008, I was a medium runner and did my laps in 4:54 and 4:56, in 2010 I joined in for the fun of it and did 5:41.  This year, I tried really really hard – and did a time of 5:10 for the km.  I was over the moon – my legs haven’t moved that quickly since, I reckon, 2008!  They were very excited about it :)

It was lovely to be with my Ranelagh club mates (and David who was my PA for the evening!), lots of people I hadn’t seen in an age and lots of new runners to meet too.  As an aside our team finished 4^th out of 6 teams – but that’s not the point of the Ratchford Relays.  I really enjoyed myself, as the photos may testify!

Recently my 5k times have been good and after a cracking run last year I felt that I should be able to better that performance if everything went alright on the day.  I actually had a pretty lazy week of exercise having been working away from home (lots of travel messed things up a bit) and enjoying the delights of hotel food so I’d either arrive at the start feeling lethargic or fresh.  Only time would tell.

After the 2010 ‘fun’ that I had racing with Duncan M. from Ranelagh (see last years blog for that) he decided to adopt a different, but perhaps more sensible strategy.  Rather than race it like a 5k and die towards the end he was after even splits and if all went to plan he’d come cruising past me close to the finish.  Interesting tactic… however, it could just work.

Conditions were ideal, a light breeze and temperature probably close to 20 degrees.  A lovely summer evening (for a change!) and a good crowd of over 400 runners.  I was lined up on the front row and as the start signal went we were all off like rockets (kind of!).  Naturally getting carried away with the faster runners I settled into a pace that although comfortable at the time I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain.  After about a half mile I eased back ever so slightly.  I was still at around my 5k personal best pace and it took a while to gently ease back some more.  It was good to have a few other runners around me at the same sort of pace so we were all pushing each other pretty hard.

Shortly after the start as we settle into pace

At around 3k I saw the first casualty – a chap who had gone off way too quick early on and was paying for it – unfortunately well before the half way point!  I had no sympathy as he was wearing an MP3 player with music blaring out (I could almost make out the words as I ran past him).  So antisocial.

At this point I was running close to Mark H. from Ranelagh and a chap from Cambridge Harriers.  The guy from Cambridge pulled ahead and I sat right behind him.  As we turned off of the grass alonside Chestnut Avenue and headed back into the park he started to open a gap which I wasn’t able to close down on.  It turned out that he had a fantastic second half and gained quite a few places on me.  Nice one.

From here on in I was running alone.  I went through 5k in around 18:05.  This was three seconds slower than in 2010 but I was feeling a little stronger this time around and I remember how much of a struggle the last bit was last year.  Hopefully this time I was more under control.

The final 2k were hard work.  I was slowly closing in on two or three men ahead of me and as I headed into the finishing straight I’d got past two of them but one put in an almighty sprint finish to take me before the line.

This wasn’t really an issue as I crossed the line in 26:08 – a 17 second personal best on last years time.  I certainly cannot complain about that.  I finished 29th out of 487.  Although my time was much better this year I was further down the field.  Last year I was 19th out of 505.  As for Duncan, he just wasn’t feeling it on the night so was unable to test out his even pacing strategy against my ‘go like a nutter and hang on for dear life’ approach.

Following the race it was time to enjoy a picnic out on the field in front of the cricket club with friends.  As with last year (and the previous times that I’ve run this race) it was back to Bushy parkrun the following morning where I ran a nippy 18:33 which I followed up with a 50 mile bike ride.  Busy busy busy.

Finally looking at my times at this race over the years – 27:03 (2007), 26:44 (2008), 26:25 (2010), 26:08 (2011).  What will 2012 hold?

I wanted to get in a long run on the day of the race so the plan was for a moderate warm-up and then a slightly harder ‘race.’  The warm up was just under 4.5 miles – almost a lap of the single lap course and this was followed by waiting around at the start/finish area for about 25 minutes or so chatting to others as I waited for my start time (as its a handicap race).

When you’re eventually lined up ready to go it’s interesting to see the people who set off in front (who you want to chase down and beat) and the ones behind you (who are racing after you!).  This adds some pressure onto the race as you’re not just all starting together and seeing the super fast runners race off into the distance.

I last ran the course a year ago immediately before driving over to Germany for the Challenge Roth triathlon race.  Apparently I had a ‘steady’ run and completed the course in 34:56.  My best time over the course was in 2009 when I ran it in 32:03 (a few hours after a fast 5k at Bushy parkrun).

As I set off today I planned to push pretty hard and just see what happened.  I didn’t fancy being overtaken by too many people and once I caught the sight of the runners ahead of me I pushed on.

It took close to two miles before I was overtaken by the first of the faster runners.  When overtaken it gives you the impetus to try and stick with them, even though they’re faster.  This helped no end and I ended up having a good little run with Mark H. where we swapped positions with one another on three or four occasions (he got the better of me in the end).  One point of note during the race was about 1.5 miles from the finish, when a young deer ran out of some fern that we were running alongside and almost took out Mark.  It was so so close and he almost jumped out of his skin as it flew in front of him!  The perils of running in Richmond Park.

Very few other runners came past me (perhaps two or three others) and in the final couple of miles I was flying past many of the slower runners ahead of me.  Very motivational.

Conditions underfoot were very firm – the weather was cool and there was a fresh breeze blowing – which was really quite gusty in some of the exposed areas of the course.

As I crossed the line my time was 31:04 which put me at 11th position overall, and (more importantly) 11th fastest (out of 70 runners).  This was a 59 second personal best on the course so an excellent result.  The course is measured at 4.95 miles which equates to 6:17 minute miling over the bumpy terrain.  Finally, looking at my individual age graded performance chart at the Ranelagh Harriers website for club cross country courses this is my best ever performance – with an age grading of 72.2%.  I’ve never made it over 70 percent for the club before so I’m really pleased with this.

I ran this in 2007 and 2008 and missed the past two years as I felt that close to 10 miles running through very uneven terrain a week or two before an Ironman triathlon was far too risky.  This year I’m not doing an Ironman so it was great to go back and take part again.

To learn a little more about the run please see the post from 2007.  When I’ve done this run in the past the weather has been beautiful.  This time it was different.  It was pouring with rain!

A group of 7 or 8 of us headed off under the lead of Chris Owens who knows the park like the back of his hand.  With no maps he led us along paths, through undergrowth, through gates, across streams, over tree stumps and through woods to get to (I believe) 20 different ponds.  The route he took was excellent and without a GPS I wouldn’t have a hope in trying to do it on my own.

Although the weather was shocking the run was great fun and was nice and sociable.  I very rarely go social running with other people so this was a nice change.

Unfortunately my GPS had no battery power when I turned it on before the run so I the only information I have is that it was around 9 miles and took us about 1 hour 15 minutes in total along a route from the Ranelagh clubhouse back to the clubhouse.  The route I believe was the same as I’d run previously (maps available in the earlier posts).

We arrived with plenty of time to spare and after a cup of coffee I headed off for a warm-up.  The race is a flat figure-of-eight course completely on footpaths around a large housing estate – ideal for a fast time.  Weather wise it was great – warm but only a very light breeze.

Although it’s only a small race (in 2010 there were 157 finishers) the winning time was quick (25 minutes – 5 minute miling pace) so I knew I’d be some way back off of the front.

The start was pretty empty and I found myself on the line.  My only plan for today was to push hard and if I could hang onto something like 6 minute miling for a time of around 30 minutes I’d be happy.

The first couple of minutes I pushed off a little too quickly but that seems to happen in most races.  I then settled into a pace and had a runner very close to me for a couple of miles or so.  The leading runners were way up ahead and the next group up from me were two chaps and the leading woman.

Going through 5km my time was 18:39.

I then edged ahead of my nearest rival and kept the pressure on.  One of the men ahead of me pulled to the side with an ankle injury and I found myself closing in on the woman ahead of me.

I continued to dig in, hold pace and in the last mile I got past her and pushed on to the finish.

As I crossed the line the clock showed 30:01 which was close enough to 30 minutes for my liking!  I really pushed hard this morning and I think I had a great run.  It was hot out there and there was no drafting to be had for the entire 5 miles.  Extrapolating this time out to 10k a sub-38 minute time is certainly possible.  Perhaps something to aim for.

The winning time was 27:15 and my 30:01 put me in 9th position overall (out of 100 finishers).

Following the ‘main event’ it was time to run the 2 mile fun-run with seven year old Grace.  I can’t say that her pacing was up to much but although we ‘sprinted’ about 20 times, watched her sit on a bench to rest and also stop to look at a birds egg on the side of the path we ran the 2 miles in 21:55.  This was 10 minute 58 mile pace so not bad at all I’d say.  During the fun run, Harry raced off with his pals and finished in around 19 minutes, he looked pretty pleased.  Harry and Grace both beat their Mum, Kate ;)  Clearly she let them win…

The day continued with a visit to a Donkey Show (a bit like a dog show, but with donkeys!) and then lunch by the River Thames.  Good times.

I rarely race over 10k – for the main reason that its such a bloody tough distance.  You run at close to 5k race pace…. twice!  Normally the Bognor 10k is pretty much my only 10k of the year however a couple of weeks ago I found myself running the Sutton 10k race and found myself getting a well overdue personal best of 38:27 in tough windy conditions.

Shortly after 2km

Looking back through my records (there’s a few blog entries here from previous years) this will be my eighth year in a row of taking part in the Bognor 10k.  I’ve gone under 40 minutes on three previous occasions at Bognor.  My previous times over the years have been 52:59, 46:28, 44:26, 39:27, 39:17, 40:24 and 39:53.  Sub-40 should be simple enough for me this time…

Sunday morning arrived and with a 10:30am start I could have a leisurely start to the day.  Sharon was on my mum’s bicycle so cycled the two or so miles to the start whilst I jogged alongside her.  The weather was lovely sunshine but with a 10-15 mph WNW wind.  This meant that there would be a headwind during the second half of the run (but nowhere near as bad as in previous years).

After a good warm up I lined up at the start, about two rows back from the front.  The first km of this race is very twisty-turny and with a large group of people who race off the front it gets pretty congested.  As I had started a little further forward than in previous years things were a lot better this time around.

I went through 1km in around 3:50, which was right on with my pacing plan.  I wanted to run two pretty even 5km splits of 19 minutes.  I ran 19 minutes for 5km at the Sutton race a couple of weeks ago and planned to do the same again today.

As the km markers went by I continued to hold my pace.  There were no groups of runners around me and unfortunately nobody to draft off of.  I’d say that I ran the entire race on my own.

The support on the course is fantastic (as always) and I knew that I’d get some good cheers from Sharon (at the 2k and 7k points), and then my mum (4k) and dad (6k) as my parents were marshalling.

Around 7km. Beautiful course scenery.

I went through 5k in about 18:57 which was bang on target.  After 5.5k you turn back onto the promenade for the long slog back to the finish – almost entirely alongside the sea.

I was still running on my own and there were a few individual runners up ahead of me.  I was desperate to close the gap and get on the back of someone and get a bit of a free lift/draft during the windy parts that were coming up.

The trouble was, every time I managed to close the gap and get behind someone, they were running slower than I wanted to and I didn’t feel that hanging right behind them would have given me any overall benefit (I’d use less energy but I’d be running much slower – which isn’t the idea).  So it turned out that every person that I caught up with, I ended up pushing straight past them and doing my best to make sure that they couldn’t try and sit on the back of me!  Yeah that’s mean but this is racing… it’s not a knitting club :)

Photo: Jason Evans

The last few k’s were tough – really tough – but I knew I had a chance of beating my previous personal best (38:27) from a couple of weeks ago.  I just had to keep focused on good running form and leg speed.  There’s a photo of me deep in the ‘hurt box’ at around 9km in over at flickr.com thanks to Jason Evans. I was deep in concentration and able to grunt occasionally in thanks to people cheering me on!

The crowd support was fantastic throughout and during the final few hundred metres both sides of the road were filled with cheering supporters.  I continued to catch up with (and overtake) runners who were ahead of me and as I came round the final corner I caught sight of the finishing clock – 37:58, 37:58, 38:00…. doh!  I pushed on and crossed the line in 38:03 – which is another personal best by some 23 seconds.  Certainly no complaints there.  I finished in 21st position out of 1,486 finishers.

Looking at my mile splits on my GPS, which recorded 6.25 miles they were as follows: 5:55, 6:10, 6:03, 6:09, 6:11, 6:09, 5:48 (for the final part).  This pretty much follows the usual pattern for me in these kind of races (at least when it goes to plan!) – set off a little too fast, bring it under control for a few miles and then speed up at the end.

So, after my eighth Bognor Prom 10k race I’ve got myself a great personal best from no dedicated 10k training.  Who knows what 2012 will hold…

So, let’s talk about the warm-up to Sunday…

Friday morning I met up with Danny and Kirsty and we cycled the 17 miles over to Black Park for their Royal Wedding parkrun.  The run kicked off at 9:30am and my plan for both this weekends parkruns was run close to 20 minutes.  A solid run had me finishing in 19:34.  That’ll do nicely.  After a bite to eat and watching some of the early wedding action on my iPhone we cycled back on the lovely quiet roads – remembering to ring our bells at any sight of bunting on peoples houses.  Much fun was had (by Kirsty and myself) – Danny didn’t seem quite as excited about the Royal Wedding as we were.  Our timing was also perfect as I made it back home in plenty of time to see ‘the kiss’ – oh, and to watch it all over again and again!  Buntingly good fun.

Saturday it was back to the regular haunt of Bushy Park.  An easy ride over there on the mountain bike, a steady 19:53 and then ride back home.  Two races – well, parkrun’s are not races, but an individual time trial ;) done.

Oh, in between all of this I managed to ‘win’ an entry into Monday’s Thames Turbo sprint triathlon race which is held only a few miles from home.  My bike and running is going OK – my swim isn’t but it’s only for fun, right!  My three ‘race’ weekend suddenly turned into a four race weekend – ‘The Quadruple!”

Sunday morning arrived and Sharon and I drove over to Sutton for the 10k.  I raced this last in May 2007 and this was where I first went under 40 minutes – 39:45 to be precise.

My current 10k personal best is 38:54 on a tough course and I’ve had that since August 2008.  The only 10k race I ever do nowadays is the Bognor Regis 10k and normally I’m either in the middle of ironman training or coming back from injury – or its blowing a gale by the seaside so I normally just dip under 40 minutes there.

This morning, although pretty windy I felt that I should be able to run a couple of 19:30 5k’s back to back so should just aim to push hard (but not too hard) early on and see what happens.  With the company of other club runners nearby (Duncan and Bill) who are both capable of similar times I should have some company on the run.

As we set off we soon established a pack of Ranelagh Harriers runners – Duncan, Bill, Trevor, John and myself.  Chris B. sped off into the distance and I didn’t see him until after the finish.

Gun Show just after 2 miles - Bill (ITN News), David (show off), Duncan (serious)

This is a three lap course and much of the second half of each lap is slightly uphill and into a strong headwind (about 15mph or so this morning).  We stuck together as best as possible, all pushing hard and trying to keep up with one another – which was a great help.  The first lap felt pretty easy.  I had to hold back on my pace as I’d be needing my energy later on and the support on each lap as you head through Beddington Park was great.  Sharon was taking photos and Kirsty (who’d run to the race to support) seemed to be wearing my clothes to keep herself warm!

We went through the 5k mark in exactly 19 minutes (by this time it was Duncan, Bill and myself – Trevor had run off ahead a couple of km before).  If I could just do this again this would be perfect – although the 5k point is just before the uphill/headwind part which I’d only run once and had to do twice more.  I expected there could be some drop-off because of this.

Keeping up the pace was getting much tougher on the second lap and by the third lap – when we were overtaking many of the much slower runners I certainly had to dig deep.  Bill had drifted off the back of us and it was Duncan and I shoulder to shoulder.  Just after 8k I moved ahead along with a guy from Clapham Chasers running club.  About a minute or so later Duncan re-appeared with a second-wind.  He muttered something along the lines of ‘I almost lost you then’ and it was good to have him back.  The thing is, he then started running off ahead and I just couldn’t keep up with his pace.

Post race and its all smiles

As we turned into the park the wind eases off and it was just a case of getting to the finish as quickly as possible (which is actually what I’d been doing for the past 35 minutes!).  I knew I would get a PB and as I ran under the finishing clock to see it say 38:27 that was good enough for me. My overall position was 49th out of 422 finishers.

As it’s a 3 lap (and a bit) course I’m was able to look at the data from my GPS and see what my lap times were – 12:10, 12:29 and 12:22.  First lap was easy, second lap tough and third lap much tougher but I pushed much harder.  Had I not have done so then it would have easily been over 12:30.

I love 10k’s but on the other hand I hate them as they’re such hard work.  Never mind… only a couple of weeks before the Bognor 10k – oh, and a little triathlon in the morning!

Pre-race day preparation

5:30am wake up followed by coffee and porridge.  We were staying at my parents house on Saturday night (about 45 minutes drive from Brighton) which was nice but I have to say that they’re not quite familiar with the do’s and don’ts of races.  Firstly I was offered fresh seafood for lunch on Saturday and then asked if I could help my father move a large sofa from storage a little distance from home to their new extension.  Dodgy food and anything that could injure you or pull the wrong muscle is not good day-before preparation.  I declined on both counts.

We arrived early in Brighton and were fortunate enough to be invited round to a friends house who was also running the marathon and just so happened to live about 10 minutes walk from the start.  Brilliant.  That meant fresh coffee and no pre-race portaloo visits.  Result.  I was also able to leave his house at 8:35am and be in the starting pen at 8:45 – ready for the 9am start.

The weather was going to be on the warm side, that’s for sure (20ish degrees).  A light wind with clear blue skies.  The sunshine and heat wasn’t of any concern to me.  I’ve run in much much hotter weather both in training (not recently I might add!) and also during the marathon run at Challenge Roth in Germany last summer (where I ran 3:35 after a little swim and bike ride ;).  I was happy with all my pre-race nutrition and liquids and was ready to run a steady 3:09.  From a ‘pacing band’ that I’d printed out I wrote on my arm the main splits I needed (5, 10, 13.1, 20, 25 miles).

As the starting gun went it was only about 10 seconds before I crossed the line.  The first couple of miles were pretty busy but it soon got quieter.  With the first half of the race being rather ‘lumpy’ I was anticipating running up to two minutes slower during the first half, but with a pancake flat second half I’d be able to make up time with a good ‘negative split.’

Around 4 miles

The first few miles were actually fairly speedy, and I hit five miles bang on target – 36 minutes.  This was time for my first energy gel (well, my second as I’d had one about 30 minutes before the start).  At around eight miles I could feel that my quads were really starting to hurt.  Somewhat similar to how they hurt after my ‘easy’ 13.5 miler on Monday of this past week (they were still hurting on Friday).  This did not particularly bode well!!

My heart rate was also messing around with me – much higher than I would ever expect it to be based on effort.

At around 13.5 miles

I ran close to the 3:10 pacer for the first 10 miles or so although my quads started giving me real grief at about 8 miles. I soldiered on. Hit the halfway mark bang on target (about 1:34:15) and deep down hoped that the flat second half would allow me to fight round the last 13 miles!  Oh how I was wrong.

Miles 16-20 were a nightmare as my splits got worse and worse and my heart rate went up and up. As I hit 20 miles I’d waved goodbye to my target and had to resort to a run walk strategy – something I’d never done before in a marathon (not even during Ironman).  I just wanted to get round at this point – the race I wanted wasn’t going to happen and I didn’t want to kill myself – I just wanted to finish in a respectable time.

It was hard hard work and my legs were hurting almost as much whether I walked or ran.  After walking for 2-3 minutes I tried to run and occasionally I could run more than a 3 or 4 minutes at once!  At around 23 miles after the 3:20 pacer came past I was able to run more and walk less.  I say run in the loosest sense there!

Mileage splits

At around 25.5 miles I saw Sharon and Kirsty (who knew things weren’t good after seeing the 3:10 and 3:20 pacers run past) so I was happy to stop very briefly to let them know that I was fine.  I ran to the finish from here alongside a chap from Wimbledon Windmilers – we had both had a bloody tough day.

As for my time, I came in at 3:25:37 which although is way off of my target I’m fairly happy with it considering the conditions and how I felt during the last 16 miles (for info my standalone marathon personal best is 3:19:46 at London in 2009).  Many people would kill for a time like that.  I was 358th out of 7817 finishers – the last finisher came home in 9 hours 8 minutes 54 seconds!

This year there were 15,000 entrants, and with 7645 finishers that’s just over 52 percent of entrants finished.  Many hundreds/thousands wouldn’t have even started.  In 2010 there were 12,000 entrants and just under 62% of entrants finished (7437 finishers).

I saw a lot of people struggling round near me and as for the 3:10 pacer – I saw quite a few people fall off of back of the group (it was about 25 people strong early on) and he was spotted running with one or two other runners about half a mile from the finish.  I’m not sure what the usual drop-out rate is but this doesn’t look good.  Unfortunately I don’t know how many actual starters there were this year or last.

The support was absolutely fantastic. The marshals/volunteers top notch and this is a brilliant race to run. I’ve got some unfinished business here!

Tough day at the office, that’s for sure.  A sub 3:10 time is in me, I know it.  I just have to be able to deliver the time I deserve on race day.  That’s the tough bit!  It will happen.

This time I’m not injured and the date fitted in perfectly with my series of long runs prior to the Brighton Marathon in three weeks time.  This would be my longest run and then I ease off the long runs (18 miles!! next week, then 12 the week after) going into Brighton.

My plan for today was not to run the 21 miles at race pace, as although I should be capable of doing so I don’t want to ‘run my best race in training’ – the plan was to run slower than marathon pace for the first 15 miles and then step things a bit in the final 6 mile ‘loop.’

My plan was to run the first 15 miles at around 7:30 pace or quicker.  I set off a little quick (first mile in just over 7 minutes, and the second mile not much slower) and then settled down a bit.  For some reason my GPS watch decided to go a bit nuts and after 5 miles it was beeping mile splits a quarter of a mile too early!  It seemed to settle down after then which was good.

The 13.1 mile (half marathon) marker was crossed in around 1:36:45 (which is 3:13:30 marathon pace) – or 7:23 miling.  At around 15 miles I ran for a few minutes with Danny, who was warming down after a fantastic run in the 15 mile race (running alongside the 21 miler).  I then turned onto the final loop where I had planned to step things up a little more…

During the final 6 miles I stepped up the pace and looking at the post-run data I ran round at 7:06 miling – which is pretty much what I wanted to do.  I won’t say it was particularly easy (the route is certainly not flat) but I pushed hard and did what I wanted.  I crossed the finish line in approximately 2 hours 34 and 13 seconds.

For those interested nutrition wise I probably had a total of one small plastic cup of water during the run (these plastic cups are a nightmare to drink from when running) and I had three energy gels.  On race day I’ll probably have four or five gels on the run and certainly be drinking much more – and whatever energy drink they provide at that.

Out of the 543 finishers of the 21 (and a tiny bit) mile route I was the 71st finisher in a time of 2:34:13.  The winner finished in 1:57:51, around 9 minutes faster than second place!

Overall a good morning run – the Cranleigh 21 is an excellent event – it’s dirt cheap to enter (10 pounds for 21 miles!) – a great change of scenery from the usual local long run routes and good to run alongside other people at a similar pace and work on real race simulation nutrition strategy.

After finding myself on the injured bench at the end of 2009 I desperately wanted to start 2010 with a parkrun. So, the start of the year began on the 1st January with Bushy parkrun. I finished in 24:24 and logged the following…

“First run since 28 November. Almost stopped after 1k but wasn’t sure if foot pain or just bloody freezing!”

My next run was at Black Park parkrun on the 23rd and then again in mid-February. My left foot was starting to get better but I decided to get back into things but not rush it.

As part of my Ironman training I was getting time in on my bike (and did the brilliant ‘Hell of the Ashdown’ cycle sportive at the end of January in the ice!).

• January mileage – 6.22.
• February mileage – 29.
• March mileage – 86.

So, things were picking up again but I needed to not rush things.

• April mileage – 93.5

In May I was back at the Bognor Regis 10k for my seventh year in succession. All I wanted to do was get under 40 minutes. I’d run a 40 minute 10k on a treadmill a few days before so felt good and with a steady run (although in a strong wind) I finished in 39:53. That’ll do nicely.

At the end of May I was in the pool for my first triathlon of the season (Thames Turbo Race 3) and finished 17th out of 330 finishers.

• May mileage – 147

In May I also started cycle-commuting into London a couple of days a week on my mountain bike. This was a great opportunity to get some extra easy miles in on the bike – especially on ‘recovery’ days when I wanted just an easy session.

I was going to write about the ‘National Family Week 5k’ that was held at Twickenham Stadium at the start of June but the event was such an (expected) shambles that I won’t. You can read about it if you want to…

Mid-June we were in Wales for the Bala Middle Distance triathlon. This is a great event on a tough course and I had a great race. Finishing in 4 hours 48 (nearly 4 minutes faster than in 2009) and 120th out of 629 finishers.

• June mileage – 143

A month later we popped over to Richmond Park to run the Ranelagh Harriers Coad Cup Handicap Race and then jumped straight in the car and headed to Dover to catch an overnight ferry. Five days later I was on the start line at the Challenge Roth Ironman Distance race. What a day! You can read all about it in my race report but my highlights were a 64 minute swim (for 2.4 miles) and a 3 hour 35 marathon!

• July mileage – 110

Post Ironman I seem to have plenty of 5k speed in my legs (no idea how!) so decided to run one of my favourite 5k’s – the annual ‘Wedding Day 7k’. What I hear you ask? Well…. you run it like a 5k race, then hang on for the final 2k. It’s torture, but enjoyable at the same time.  So, 12 days after my Ironman and I got a 19 second PB on the course. Nice.

At the end of August I raced hard at the Thames Turbo triathlon and finished 20th out of 357 finishers with a time of 1 hour, 4 minutes 37 seconds – a few seconds faster than earlier in the year. This was the warm-up for the Vitruvian…

• August mileage – 77

The beginning of September saw us at The Vitruvian half-Ironman distance triathlon – and what a race. I had a blinder of a race and finished in 4 hours 28 – just under 33 minutes faster than I was in 2008!

“What I like about this the most is that I have the same wetsuit and same bike… I am just stronger overall – especially on the bike and run. This is great to know, especially when I know that I can do better with more (and more structured) training.”

This marked the end of the ‘triathlon season’ and I’ve not seen my wetsuit since. Now it was time to concentrate on other things…

• September mileage – 122

I’d been asked if I ‘fancied running a marathon before the end of the year’ some time ago and decided it would be a good idea. The next couple of months were concentrating on marathon training and getting those long runs in. I took part in a few races but didn’t run them hard – I ran these more as controlled training runs.

• October mileage – 180
• November mileage – 184

At the start of December when all my training was banked and ready to deposit on the streets of Luton for their marathon the race was cancelled due to snow.  Very frustrating but something that can happen with a race held in December.  I got my first ever ‘podium’ placing at Bushy parkrun instead!

After missing out on the snow running earlier in the year through injury I got to enjoy what everyone had been raving about many months ago.  I also learnt that cross country spikes are awesome for running on ice covered paths.

In between some of the snow I found myself getting a 5k personal best of 17:51 at Bushy parkrun. It was hard work (as 5k always is) but very satisfying considering the cancellation of the marathon.

A few more parkruns (they’ve been going on all year, I’ve just not mentioned them above) and a couple of small mob-match/races completed the year.

• December mileage – 101 (before I go out for a few miles later today!)

My total run mileage for 2010 was around 1285 (1311 in 2009, 1028 in 2008, 1320 in 2007) so I’m ticking over again and have no complaints after a slow start to the year.  Here’s my monthly run mileage for the past four years where you can see trends for 2010 such as my mileage increasing for my summer Ironman and then again in my October/November marathon run focus.

Here’s a summary of the running races I took part in (ignoring parkruns) during 2010:

• 20 Feb: Ranelagh Harriers ‘mob match’ against Blackheath & Bromley
• 27 Mar: Ranelagh Harriers Baker Cup
• 16 May: Bognor Prom 10k – 39:53
• 31 May: Thames Turbo Triathlon – 17th overall
• 13 Jun: Bala Middle Distance Triathlon – 4:48:15
• 13 Jul: Ranelagh Harriers Coad Cup
• 18 Jul: Challenge Roth – 10:10:58
• 30 Jul: Wedding Day 7k – 26:25
• 30 Aug: Thames Turbo Triathlon
• 04 Sep: Vitruvian Triathlon – 4:28:01
• 09 Oct: Surrey League Cross Country
• 17 Oct: Cabbage Patch 10
• 23 Oct: Ranelagh Harriers ‘mob match’ against SLH
• 20 Nov: Ranelagh Harriers ‘mob match’ against TH&H
• 12 Dec: Stragglers/26.2 ‘mob match’
• 26 Dec: Stragglers Cabbage Patch 4

So, what’s in store for 2011. The cancellation of the Luton Marathon means that I will be going for my London Marathon ‘Good For Age’ time at Brighton in April and we’ll see what happens then. I’m going to be busy at work for at least the first few months of 2010 so I’m currently not planning another Ironman. I will however continue to swim/bike/run train and will do a couple of Half Ironman races in 2010.

Oh, I also seem to have got myself one of my running club ‘ballot’ places in the London Marathon so right now I plan to run the Brighton Marathon and then seven days later the London Marathon. Could be interesting!

Looking back at what I wrote in my Challenge Roth race report at the end of July – six months later and everything remains the same…

“So, what next…. the trouble with most of these Ironman distance races is that you have to enter them a year in advance and I’m not sure I want to commit to one next summer. What I’m currently thinking is concentrating on getting a better standalone marathon time under my belt and also getting some good cycle training in next year. If I don’t do something like the Outlaw Iron distance race in the UK in August 2011 then my next big race will be in 2012, and it could be any of them…possibly even Challenge Wanaka in New Zealand.”

• 2006 – 1:11:47
• 2007 – 1:03:09
• 2008 – 1:06:02
• 2009 – 1:02:22

This year I chose not to race as I’m planning on getting a marathon in before the end of the year and I wanted to do a long run this past weekend.  I couldn’t miss the Cabbage Patch 10 as its such a good event so chose to treat it as the second half of a much longer run.  The plan was to get around 10 miles in beforehand and then run the race at my planned marathon pace.  This would make it a fairly tough 20 mile run, but with the slightly easier first 10 miles the toll on my body and subsequent recovery shouldn’t be as bad as trying to run it all at marathon pace.

I set off from home just before 8:45am and ran most of the route in reverse.  I said hello to a few marshals and made it to the official race start at 9:56am.  My 9.4 mile ‘warm-up’ was run at 7:40 minute miling.  After a few minutes wait the race started and I soon settled into a steady pace just a few seconds  slower than 7 minute miling.

Photo: Simon Finch

From here on it was just running steady and comfortably for 10 miles – making sure I said thanks to all the marshals (as I wasn’t busting a gut and out of breath!) and enjoying the ‘race.’

I stuck to my plan and only really sped up during the last mile when my GPS clocked me at 6:59 miling.  I crossed the line in 1 hour 11 minutes 48 seconds, a whole second slower than my first ‘appearance’ in 2006.  An easy jog to where Sharon was marshalling and my running for the day was over – a total of 20.5 miles.

As my time was practically the same as in 2006 I had a little dig through my records.  In 2006 my average heart rate was 175bpm, this year it was 156bpm.  That is a pretty good improvement I’d say – especially after my 9.4 mile warm up (which averaged 144bpm).  I also wondered how much heavier I was back then and I was pretty much the same weight – about 12 stone 12 pounds (81.5kg).

Once again a superb morning out.

The weather was lovely and there was no need for cross country ‘spike’ shoes because of recent dry weather.  It’s a 5.3 mile circuit consisting of two laps, and if you asked me to describe the route it would be along the lines of ‘running around some large hilly type fields and moving from one to another through holes in the trees between them.’  It was a strange course.

Just over 160 men started the race (the women raced earlier in the day in Richmond Park) and my plan was to run pretty hard, but not absolutely kill myself!  My heart rate quickly rose up to the low 170′s and I thought it would settle down at some point but it was really just telling me that I was working hard!  For the 5.3 miles it averaged at 175 and maxed at 182.

I need to work a little more on pacing these races, but with cross country it’s really tough.  On a flat-ish road race you know what kind of pace you want to do and can stay fairly steady with it.  With cross country the ups and downs mean running to a pace is impossible and have you have to go more by feel.

After settling into position there wasn’t a great deal of moving up or down the field.  I overtook a few people – and a few people overtook me.  The second lap felt much much tougher than the first – as my lap splits show – 16:50 for the first lap, and 17:37 for the second.  Interestingly in the first race of last years XC season I was 45 seconds slower on the second lap.

Overall my time was 34:59 and I finished 74th out of 161 finishers.  My average pace was 6:34 minute miling.  Not bad for a bumpy course.  Ranelagh had an excellent team of runners taking part and we had three out of the top five finishers (with Phil K. winning the race).

It was lovely to race as a Ranelagh ‘team’ again and I look forward to more of the same throughout the winter months…

Well, this year things are a little different. I’d competed in an Ironman 12 days before but earlier in the week of the Wedding Day race I thought I’d give it a go. I seem to recover very well from triathlon events and knew I had a good 5k in me after last weekends 18:32 at Bushy parkrun. I wondered what I could do over 7k.

For this race I have a time honoured pacing strategy – treat it like a 5k then hang on for the remaining 2k until the finish. Well, lets just say that I followed the plan like a treat!

After a short warm-up (and a 4 mile bike ride to the start) I made sure I was near the front row and set off close to Duncan and Chris from my club (Ranelagh Harriers). The pace was quick and we all raced off into the park.

The start of the Wedding Day 7k. Photo: Guy Watson

I knew we were going a bit too fast but this is the fun of this race – you know the last 2k is going to be painful so you might as well make it one to remember! As my watch beeped after a mile I glanced down and saw it say 5:41. Oops – just a little too fast. I turned to Duncan who was right beside me and said something like ‘I’m blaming you for this.’ His response was ‘I’m just following you!’

From here on in it was just hard running. Conditions were ideal – not hot although there was a little breeze in places. I found myself running very close to Joseph from 26.2 Road Runners Club who looked like he was running very comfortably. I was puffing and panting and really giving it some welly! Just after 2 miles I edged past him and tried to bridge the gap between myself and the runner in front – a runner from The Stragglers running club. It took almost a mile to get to him.

At the 5k point I looked at my watch and it said 18:02. Oops! That’s 9 seconds off of my 5k standalone PB. I knew for sure at this point that the final 2k would be hard hard work (hmn, much like the previous five were!).

I then drifted past Simon from Stragglers, we both gave each other words of encouragement and away I went. With just over half a mile to go Joseph came back past me and I tried to stick with him as long as I could.  I couldn’t quite stick to him ’til the finish but I certainly tried.

A few hundred metres before the finish I saw Roger W. supporting – he said something like, ‘take it easy David’ – he could see how hard I was working at this point.

Seconds from the finish. Photo: Guy Watson

I then turned onto the grass area, raced to the finish and stopped my watch. My overall time was 26:25, a 19 second PB on my time from 2008 and I finished 19th overall out of 506 finishers. Brilliant. I was chuffed to bits with this – a great hard run. This is the hardest that I’ve run over a short distance for a long long time – my heart rate averaged 179 and maxed at 190.

As with all local races the Ranelagh Harriers ‘stats’ man and webmaster, Ken, was there making notes on everyone’s finishing times. He also had his list of estimates for people and had mine down at 29:08! Shocking. I went over to him and jokingly complained at his poor estimate and he commented something like ‘but you hardly ever race.’ Fair point. Also I have to admit that my previous Ranelagh races haven’t been raced hard at all – so his data will be a little skewed to how I’m really running at present.

The evening finished off with a beer, some food and watching some of the European Championship athletics on the TV in the cricket club in the park. Another great Wedding Day race done and dusted. See you next year.

PS. Saturday morning dawned and I put in a steady 19:08 run at Bushy parkrun. That was my running done for the rest of the weekend. A good 60 miles on the bike on Sunday was all I could manage…

My plan was to run steady, not hard and also be very very aware of any uneven ground – the last thing I want now is a twisted ankle!

I followed my plan well and ran the 4.96m course in 34:56 – around 7 minute miling.  Not bad for a cross country course in Richmond Park.  As it was a handicap race and I was taking it easy I finished 49th out of 55 competing runners.   In the order of speed I was a more respectable 25th fastest out of 77.  The extra 22 runners were ‘guests’ – those who do not have an official Ranelagh Harriers handicap time.  Only those who do (55 of us) were eligible to race and win the Coad Cup.

I was happy with the run and straight afterwards Sharon and I raced home, grabbed a bite to eat and headed off to catch a ferry from Dover to Calais…