Don't Knock(holt) it, till you tried it!

Today was the day of the annual Petts Wood Runners train run, we all meet up at the station and get on the train then half the group get off at Knockholt for a 5-6miles run back while the others continue on the Sevenoaks to run trail and roads, 13miles back to Petts Wood. The train station was packed full with running tights and high viz, I counted 39 runners in total - an amazing turnout.
For the past two years I have attended the full Sevenoaks run but today I was just not feeling it, during my short run yesterday I started to get a sharp pain in my back, like I was being stabbed from behind. All sounds a bit dramatic but I can assure you it was not... just painful unfortunately. I did however notice that this tended to happen when I speeded up during the run so with my sensible head I decided I would go with the Knockholt group today, target starting pace was 11min/miles and then I planned to add a few on the end - much to my delight 3 other runners stuck with me as we took our mileage up over 8miles and then I detoured off home. Perfect for a marathon training long run so I read... start off at a slower pace and increase for the second half. 
Really nice to be out with a different group of people this morning and so many new and familiar faces, I had puff enough to chat for the whole run which was great and really enjoyable. A good end to my first week of marathon training proper.