I hadn't been running in the week between the 8 mile run and this run. This was good as it allowed my knee to rest, but bad as it allowed everything else to get out of practice as well. One of the big issues I had when preparing for the marathon was that 2/3rds of my weekly mileage came from one long run on the weekend, and this is probably why I picked up so many niggling injuries.
24th March 2013
Distance (miles): 15.12
Time (hh:mm:ss): 01:59:49
Pace (min/mile): 07:54
There were two goals for this race, average under 8min/mile, and complete it without my knee collapsing. As you can see above I did both. The pace was comfortable and maintainable, only getting hard after about mile 12. As was becoming common my knee hurt for a couple of miles near the beginning, but was then fine for the rest of the run. It did seize up within a couple of minutes of stopping. Oh well.
More generally the race was well organised and very enjoyable. Entry was only by post, and the website looks horrible (mabac.org.uk) but my number arrived in plenty of time. There were about 750 entrants, with the option to do an extra 6 miles. You could choose on the day, though I never thought about doing the 21, although about 550 runners did. The roads were closed for the first couple of miles which was enough time for everyone to spread out a bit, and due to it being 10am on a Sunday morning there weren't many cars about.
There were plenty of stewards to direct and regular water stands. I thought the split of routes by the finish could be an issue but it was clearly sign posted and several marshals told you about it on the approach. My official time was 2:00:02, but I prefer the sub 2 hours from my watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment