Yesterday I had spent some time looking at best and worst case scenarios for my average pace for the race - what I needed for a PB, what I need for a sub-1:50 and a variety in between.
I awoke before my alarm and ate my porridge as set out the night before, got into my kit and then got a lift to the station to meet Simon and Eleanor to get the train. We arrived shortly after 9am, met Emma and Karien in the car park and strolled to the start. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful day and my hands were shaking - had I put too much pressure on myself to get a PB with the marathon only 3 weeks away?
As we lined up at the start I was still feeling nervous, I was answering Simon in random noises and grunts but not very coherently I'm sure as I focussed on the task ahead. The clock struck 10am and we were off!
I settled into a good fast (for me) pace and trotted along weaving through the crowds for the first mile or so before the field spread sufficiently. I then looked at my watch and saw I was running at a sub 8 min/mile pace, this was too fast, I may burn out so I made myself slow down. I continued this battle with my legs trying to pull me faster and my brain saying it was too much, for a while at least before I settled. My average pace was around 8:16 min/miles by now and I was over the moon... I might really do it, I might get under that 1h50 barrier if I could keep this up. My breathing was good, I wasn't in pain, I was pushing but it felt right.
At the half way point the marshal called out 54min58 - I was bang on schedule, and by the gun time too so I knew I could do it I just needed to stay strong and focus. By my watch and chip time I was closer to 54mins. By the 10mile point I knew had a PB in the bag at 1h21 minutes and still feeling good.
Mentally I was now in my 'less than a parkrun to do' phase in my head, this always perks me up! Gradually starting to pick off runners one by one I kept going relentless now in my pursuit of a sub 1h50. The last part of the course was the same as the start so I knew what was left to come, as I rounded the corner into the home straight with less than 200m to go I spotted my hubby and started waving, I called out to him that I had definitely smashed my PB and then went into the home straight sprint... 1:47:43!!! POW I had done it.
I was bouncing off the walls when I emerged from the finish area medal in hand and working out I had knocked a huge 7 minutes from my previous PB so immediately went to have my time engraved on my newest medal, awesome!
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