Graham popped across to Romsey.
Unlike my last running race, this was really spring like.
It felt nice warm & ran in my vest rather than long sleeves. I always look forward to this one, just to see how my run training is progressing. I rode out to the event via Fordingbridge & Cadnam & met Coach 2 at the car park at the event registration.
My warm up ride turned out to be about 1.5hrs. The event is located in Broadlands so it was all enclosed within the estate so no traffic to contend with, & the course is flat & fast. It is a three lap run with a dog leg to make up the 5 miles.
I was thinking to myself that I could possibly do a 35min run, which I would be very happy with & going on the times during my training. I started near the front, about 8 rows back, because my fast running days are well past me. I felt reasonably good for the first two miles but didn’t feel too good for the third mile & started to wonder what was going on but then settled in with a group for the next mile & then things started to feel a bit slower heading towards the finish. But over all I was happy with the way the run went.
My mile splits were:
1 – 6:45
2 – 6:36
3 – 6:37
4 – 6:35
5 – 6:43
My overall time was 33:18 (average 6:40 per mile – wow, where did that come from!!!)
I was 81st overall out of about 1200 athletes & 16th in my age group (there are some very quick runners around now!!)