White Horse Half Marathon

Sunday 6th April

Competed today in the White Horse half marathon at Grove, Oxon. When I woke up it seemed unlikely the event would take place at all, as there had been snowfall overnight and it had settled. In fact, it was about 3 inches deep. However, when I checked the website it was confirmed that the race was in fact on.

I drove up there with my mate Andy who had taken my friend Becky's race no. Before the start he asked me if I minded him running with me. I said that was fine, but I wouldn't be able to hold a conversation. I didn't expect to get a PB after such a hard week's training, but I still wanted to run it hard.

And run hard I did. As usual, I started the race too quickly, knocking out the first mile in about 7 minutes 40 seconds. At the time it felt comfortable, but by mile 5 I was already slowing down. It was tough going after that, and I was starting to wish I had relaxed for the last few days. Andy, not on form, had given up trying to stay with me in the early miles, so that was something - I never thought I'd see the day when he'd be unable to keep up with me.

I passed the 11 mile marker in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes and worked out that if I ran the last 2.1 miles in 16 minutes I would beat my PB. It wasn't to be though, and while the last two miles felt like an all out sprint, I could only manage 9-minute miles and finished in 1:48:22.

Whilst it would have been nice to get a PB, the most important thing was that I had run a half marathon hard and without injury or incident, and I was very pleased to get under 1:50 for only the second time.

No imediate celebrations; when I was dropped off I had some lunch, a short nap, and later on went to the gym for a lengthy stretching session. I also did 5k on the treadmill, very steady, just enough to loosen the legs up. This tactic seems to be working well for me.

Monday 7th April

Legs not as tight as they might have been today. However I was still tired from the previous day's exertions.

Started the session on the treadmill, knocking out 3k, then went out with the running club. They had decided to do the Cheney Manor route, and whilst they did the "long" version, I did the "short" version. How far the two routes are, no one seems to know exactly. They were still too fast for me tonight, and beat me back to the gym. I didn't really care, I was in no mood to push it tonight.

Tuesday 8th April

Had to work late today so had to miss the track session. Went to the gym instead, and eventually decided to do hill reps at the ridge. Hadn't done this session for a while and it showed. Did two sets of 10 reps with a short jog out to Lydiard between the two sets. Struggled with "toilet problems" tonight, which meant I couldn't push myself as hard as I would have liked and ended up having to walk part of the way back to the gym. Still, a worthwhile alternative to the track.

Wednesday 9th April

Body pump tonight. Decided to ditch spinning as I get tired of getting home so late every night, especially if I need to go shopping.

Had to go quite light as Ali was teaching the new release. Have to admit, I find most of the new music quite bland, but maybe it will grow on me. Many of the tracks are hard though, and will help me build up some overall body strength.

Had a chat with Kathryn at the end about my new status as a great Uncle. Told her that Daniel Craig is my role model, and not just because he plays James Bond. She didn't know what I meant, so I explained it's because he's the same age as me. Not sure that was a good idea. She probably had me down as still being in my early or mid thirties. Oh well.