As a final bit of sharpening, before IM Arizona, I raced the Stevenage Half marathon on Sunday morning. At the back of my mind I was hoping I might nick under 75mins (after my 1:16:23 PB in the Spring) and although my running has certainly moved on a level it wasn't to be this weekend.
After a little messing about queuing for numbers and timing chips, which delayed the start by 15mins, the Mayor of Stevenage set us off at the very respectable time of 10:45. I'd hoped the Stevenage route would be 2 fast, flat lap, but straight into it we were climbing and the course remained 'undulating' on cycle paths and included some swift changes in direction. I got in a nice little group, with some clubmates (www.gardencityrunners.org) and others from our intervals session and training mate Pablo (The self proclaimed fasted Spanish
The pack stayed together nicely for the first 8 miles or so, ticking away the miles at 5:50 pace - rather than the required 5:44's. Around 9 miles things started to break up a bit. I'd just taken a gel and felt strong, keeping the pace steady Pablo and I drifted away from the bunch. Going through 10miles in 58:30 I felt great, but knew is was all over for the 75. Pablo and I pushed each other on, running side by side (well me on his heels) for the next 3 miles, taking the 8th place runner, we had a little dash around the track and I surprised myself by having enough in the tank to take Pablo. The last mile was undoubtedly long,taking 40 secs longer than all the others, with that an the extra 0.1 to take us to 13.1 I missed the PB crossing the line in 1:16:52. 8th place overall and a bronze in the county was a nice surprise, the 75 will come in the New Year.
Well done to a teamates and friends who came out and all the finishers (Special thanks to George for being mum; taking photos and holding our bags!).
All in all a great mornings work and good luck to Pablo in the Ballbuster next weekend
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