post race report

well i managed to drag my self up to gloucester for the 4 mile road race event today. it was a low key event with only 60 runners taking part, and i placed a rather disappointing 21st. the time of 23:22 although it equalled my clevedon time i still feel as though there is far too much room for improvement for me to be complacent and give my self a pat on the back, because i don't think i deserve it. the winning time was just under 20 minutes which gives a clear indication that there is a long hard and arduous road ahead, before i am even close to where i want to be in the long term. that may sound like i am being a bit unrealistic, but a) everybody has to have dreams b) it pays to aim high if you are also dedicated and believe in your own abilities and also c) i don't care if its unrealistic.

the day didn't start too well when i got the wrong name for the pub/restaurant that was hosting the event, i thought it was the red lion instead of the white horse. i take full responsibility for it and it resulted in me having to jog 2 miles back through sandhurst village when i realised my error. i take full responsility for it though and will learn from it for next time.

the plan for the race rather than holding back early on was to go out hard right from the startwhich was exaactly what i did. for the first time in my life, i beat kate goodheadwho won the ladies race, infact i was 35 seconds clear of her. not sure how much i should read in to that though, i did 23:22, which equalled my clevedon time on a course which is (allegedly) about 100 meters short of being the full 4 miles. it was though dead flat unlike clevedon which has a big hill which is about a mile up and down right smack bang in the middle of the course. i didn't get the sub 23 minute clocking that i was hoping for, but i am sure that with a good summer, that will come next year. i hesitate to say easily, because there is nothing easy about the sport of distance running with the demands that it plces on the body. the day culminated with mixing with the gloucester rugby fans after their teams victory over the harlequins, theorising over who was going to win the premiership and the future of rugby in england. with the rise of clubs like plymouth albion and exeter and penzance it lies firmly in the west country, with the established trio, of bristol bath and gloucester plus leicester and northampton. the northern and london clubs will struggle to survive against clubs with such massive fan bases as they have developed as far as they can go.

training wise it will be a long run tomorrow of 12-14 miles , probably the last of the winter before we have a break then slip bakc in to the summer training mode. forecasting snow for tuesday so the club session could be interesting on tuesday night!