Racing time

Things went pretty well tonight. Better, in fact, than I had expected in light of this damn cold. I have been producing copious amounts of 'pure green' at the moment but unfortunately the bottom has dropped out of the market and it's virtually worthless.

Anyway, I decided to go off steady and try and increase through the race. I wanted to avoid going off too fast because I knew I would really suffer come the finish. To that end, I thought I was playing the game plan out pretty well. A big group of ten or so runners were just drifting out the front door. My perception of the game plan and reality were, sadly, out of alignment with the planets as Uranus got in the way of Venus, blocking the running line. I was through that first km in 3:31 - which is pretty much top speed for me and much too fast tonight. The funny thing was though, the legs felt great. So I just kept going.

I started to move up through the field and before too long I'd picked off most of that group of ten. By the half way point I was on target for about 17:45 and really flying. Once I hit the hill things took a dramatic change for the worse. I just couldn't breath deeply enough. The legs were ok but I couldn't get the oxygen in. From then on, with about 2k to go, it was just a case of survival. No one came past me from that point but I started to lose ground on those in front whom only a few short minutes before I had been eating up the distance. I was gasping for air with every step and eventually finished in 18:32, which I'm still pleased with and it's certainly quicker than I thought I would go tonight. More importantly though, the legs felt good so I'm sure I'll be knocking out some quick times once I get shot of this damn lurgy.

Well done to Gareth for his PB tonight - nice one. And well done to Sian and Lisa on Sunday, both breaking the magic 3 hour barrier - a feat I'm hoping to emulate one day. Well done to any one else who ran the marathon and was pleased with their time. And if you're not happy, well done anyway for trying. Better to have tried and failed than blah blah blah... you know the drill, Nepalese guru and all...

This one is for Nick, hope you're over your lurgy and feeling stronger. I'm looking for good things from you tomorrow.

More from The Mad Runner's 12 point guide to keeping a healthy level of insanity ...

2) Page yourself over the office intercom but don't disguise your voice.