Run > Race

1:48.51 chip, 1:48.50 stop-watch. 5th best time of 19 halves completed. Placed 470th of 861 finishers.

This was a race of two-halves (no pun intended) for me.

The first 6 or so miles were torrid. Really hard going. I hated every moment. The wind and 'gentle undulations' didn't help matters, but weren't the cause. The problem was in my head. I hadn't run anything like this far in training for a long time (just short indoor treadie runs) and the 'voices' were telling me that I hadn't the leg strength, the general fitness, etc to even complete the course.

At half-way, I discarded my trackie top (a nice find for someone), took on some gels, and gave myself a stiff talking to. I told myself that I could and would finish if I was sensible and didn't overstretch myself. So, I plodded along with renewed 'faith' through to 10 miles.

With only just over three miles to go, I decided to throw caution to the wind and let the world see a bit of the old me - you remember, the one that could actually run a bit. And in the final mile, went totally bonkers and took the speed up to 10km PB pace. Finished feeling so, so strong. And not a little bit smug.

But the important thing wasn't the time. It was the friendship, a new venue, and a good crack.

Mile 1 - 8.36
Mile 2 - 8.05
Mile 3 - 8.31
Mile 4 - 8.41
Mile 5 - 8.30
Mile 6 - 8.27
Mile 7 - 8.25
Mile 8 - 8.07
Mile 9 - 8.39
Mile 10 - 8.38
Mile 11 - 8.07
Mile 12 - 8.04
Mile 13 - 7.16 !!!!!
Last 1/10th - 0.45

First Half - 55.21
Second half - 53.30