What to do, how to go out? Sub 3 or just aim for a PB, maybe
3:05. That would still be knocking 7
mins off my PB of 3:12 the year before.
Go out to hard and set myself up to fail !!
On April 14th the weather appeared perfect, a
slight drizzle and fairly cool. Then came the wind from the east. Much of the
start is amongst buildings and the wind wasn’t too bad, but out on the sea
front it was fairly strong, strong enough to always force me to tuck in behind
those ahead, the weather kept many spectators away.
I ran behind a pacer until mile 19 when he started pulling
away and I couldn’t hold on. To be honest I hadn’t been feeling great
throughout the whole run, I passed by the crowds but barely noticed their
calls. Overtraining? Overeating? Not enough of a taper? I honestly don’t know.
I pushed hard down to the power station which led to cramp
and a few walking breaks, a friendly face encouraged me on and I pushed ahead.
For the last 7 miles I looked at my average pace a million times. It dropped
from 6:42/m right down to 6:48/m. I thought keep it under 6:50/m and I will crack the 3 hr barrier. I was
hurting pretty bad on the sea front, ignored the crowds and gritted my teeth.
Running the last 385 yards I could see the timer. My eyes
were full of sweat and I couldn’t see it clearly until 10 feet away, 3:00:05. Dam. An official time of 3:00:09. I was elated and disappointed at the
same time. I had passed one goal and come within 10 seconds of my next. For the
next few weeks, when I told people how I did they said “well done … but you
must be gutted?” All I can do is smile and sigh. #
The hard lesson learned, never reply on your GPS
as it still said 6:48/m at the end !!
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