Paddock Wood Half 1.17.59

Had a good sleep, heavily taped my foot and picked up by Messi and Rory early morning for the drive over to Royal Tunbridge Wells on a stunning warm morning after training all winter in the cold and rain.  Cannot tell you what a difference it makes. The traffic was a bit of a nightmare and so we literally arrived at the start line with 30 seconds to spare leaving no time to get nervous.

My races are always a blur but had set myself a 1.17.xx target having ran hard all week and 3 tempos under my belt. Basically ran controlled to go through 10k 36.30ish (3.39s).  At that point I caught 2 club runners in their Kent jerseys and implored them to work as a group which they kindly accepted. With each of us taking 60secs efforts on the front we soon caught the next group of 5 runners including a Blackheath Harrier (my old club) and a Herne Hill Harrier (the club I ran for between the age of 9 and 12).

Again I implored the group to work together as they were all spread amateurishly across the road which they also accepted but this is where I made my mistake and got carried away running way too many turns at the front. After going through 10 miles in 59 minutes, I reckon this cost me a high 1.16. Everyone else just sat in behind. Still the pace was dropping and did not want the pace to fade so had to do something.

The group then splintered and at 16k the heavy efforts began to catch up with me. That said I was able to maintain 3.45s, slightly slower than the 3.40 average. The finish was round a tight bend and so in view I knew that I had to push to get me to sub 1.18 which I managed just! 1.17.59, 3.41 avg.

With the heavy week I have to be pleased with that especially with > 65ks in sub 3.45s and 105k in total with 3 weeks to go. This is the fastest I have ran for 6 years, and have had some horror injuries over this period which have been a nightmare. I hope the foot does not pull up too sore in the morning.

Messi ran super strong to get his high 1.13 finish (PB), Daniel 1.22 (PB) and Rory low 1.30s. All were mighty satisfied with their efforts.

Daniel and family suggested lunch in Hildenborough at Dame Kelly Holmes' cafe and a result as she was there and so plucked up the courage to request the obligatory selfie. She still looks amazing.

Watched Tour of Flanders when I got home, aka the 'Tour of war'. Gilbert took it out with 50k to go and must go down as one of the greatest rides in the race's history with Sagan crashing in the process. Wow what a performance in 6hrs and 23 minutes. The guy has done the lot in his career but this must go down as his career best.

With Palace winning at Chelsea and the run today it has been a good weekend.