Seaside Rendezvous

I enjoyed my first outing to the Weston Prom Run. It was a calm night - I'm told it is usually a lot more windy. Conditions were probably just about perfect. I really wasn't sure of how I would race tonight. I felt tired and my legs felt lifeless and on top of that I'd been on my feet all day at work which probably didn't help.

Anyway, I really thought I'd be lucky to break 32 minutes and set off at a fairly pedestrian pace. A whole swath of runners rushed past in the first 500m and I settled in to a position somewhere around the top 50 or 60. As the race unfolded I began to slightly increase my pace and pick up a few places. By the half-way point I must have just about edged into the top 40 - pop pickers, with a split time of 15:35. So I was well inside the 32 target but just outside 31.

From then on I just tried to hold things together. I wasn't breathing too hard but I felt I was on the limit of what my body was able to give me tonight. I continued to gain places and in the last 500m I managed to pass a friend from Nailsea Running Club - Nailsea Pete - as I refer to him (not being able to remember his surname - I'm bloody terrible with names - who am I again?).

By the finish I was hanging on and didn't quite manage to catch the Clevedon runner I was closing in on, oh well, that's life. I finished in 26th spot with a time of 30:47, which gave me a nice negative split of 15:35 / 15:12.

Officially that is a new PB by 1 minute and 14s, but unofficially I've covered the 5 mile distance quicker during the first five miles of the Stroud half marathon last year - but I guess you can never be quite sure how accurate the markers are in a race like that. Anyway, I'm claiming the official PB - which, quite frankly, I am stunned and chuffed with. After yesterdays lack lustre, tired performance on the track I really didn't think it was on. Hopefully once I have the mad race schedule out of my system I can get down and dirty with some focused races and set some blistering (for me) new times.

Well done to John D. who finished 2nd in the race. I don't know his time but he was a bloody long way ahead of me - he'd practically finished his warm down by the time I'd finished!

And well done to Nick T. He finished in 6th but didn't seem too pleased with his race. There looked to be some good quality in the field tonight - there was also some decent runners on the prom as well! Anyway, for his sterling effort, I award him the first ever official MRTU - Mad Runner Thumbs Up. And thank him for the cheer at the end of the race - it helped to knock at least an extra second off my time.

Thought for the day: Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.

Well done to Nick for spotting my mistake on the splits, as pointed out in the comment, should have been 15 instead of 20 (now amended) - told you I was tired, obviously mentally as well - no surprise there then (and to think I have a maths degree - they hand them out like toffee nowadays!)