Bath Half Marathon this morning... cold with a biting east wind. Ran reasonably, for a 1:33+ finish (not sure of the finish time). Around 3 minutes slower than anticipated. Problems with the right calf yet again for most of the race. Not exactly an injury, just very sore and very annoying. Not exactly an earth-shattering time, but well up on the UK Rankings. 80.50-odd % for those who understand these things - 1st Vet/65.
Chris Dupain finished in 1:28:32 (chip time), and Emma Dupain in 1:33:48 (chip time)... Hannah was running with Emma but is not on the Provisional results (neither am I).More to come when the results hit the net...
Barcelona Marathon
Andrew Johnson ran 3:30:44, which was bang-on his 3:30 target. He writes: "I remember now why I have not run a big city marathon for 17 years. Too many people. Way too many people. They get in your way, block your path, slow you down - you have to concentrate all the time. No time to enjoy the environment, like Tresco (Isles of Scilly) or Eden (Project). The drink stations were like a war. The 1st World War, or maybe the Charge of the Light Brigade. Lost time at every drink station trying to grab a drink.
I had hoped to run with the 3:30 pace group. They were easy to find, at the start with their red balloons. But when we were called forward just before the race started, I moved forward 5 metres and the pacemakers disappeared in front. They were at least 10 metres in front of me at the start, so got away about a minute earlier than me. I didn’t catch them up until 18km. I then did my best to stay with them in the congested field, but began to lose touch with them at 30km when I got a stitch. After a couple of kilometres, I rallied and got quite close to them, but they gradually pulled away again and eventually disappeared. I managed to maintain 8 minutes/mile (5 minutes/km) pace until we got to when we turned inland and started climbing. The last 3km were up an incline which felt like a mountain and I slowed considerably".
I had hoped to run with the 3:30 pace group. They were easy to find, at the start with their red balloons. But when we were called forward just before the race started, I moved forward 5 metres and the pacemakers disappeared in front. They were at least 10 metres in front of me at the start, so got away about a minute earlier than me. I didn’t catch them up until 18km. I then did my best to stay with them in the congested field, but began to lose touch with them at 30km when I got a stitch. After a couple of kilometres, I rallied and got quite close to them, but they gradually pulled away again and eventually disappeared. I managed to maintain 8 minutes/mile (5 minutes/km) pace until we got to when we turned inland and started climbing. The last 3km were up an incline which felt like a mountain and I slowed considerably".
(RR)
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