What a good week of training, although I'm suffering a lot with blisters. Did a 20-miler last Sunday at 8.55 pace, which does get me in on the marathon at under 4 hours, if I can keep that pace up. Then mid-week took a day off to go running with my brother Andy along the Ridgeway Trail through the Chilterns - we did 12.5 miles at 10:30 pace - slower but its different terrain to running on the road. And then, the Piece de Resistance, the Stafford Half today. I wanted to break 1:50, so I was hoping to get in at 1:46-1:47. The start was quite busy and so not too fast but I dropped in behind someone who was keeping a good steady pace. The pace should have been too fast for me but I was feeling good and reckoned I could go with it for a few miles and then slow down if it became a problem. In those first few miles it was 7:30 - 7:40 pace, and I managed to maintain it throughout getting an average of 7:40 and a finish time of 1hr 41 mins 11 secs. I was absolutely delighted. I did get a bit ahead of myself - at about 1 mile to go I could see my watch was saying 1hr 33mins and I thought that maybe I could get in under 1hr 40min, so my last mile was a respectable 7min 12 secs as I tried to beat the clock!
Activity Details for Stafford Half
