Up to last Sunday I was averaging a steady 50 miles per week, mostly running to work and back with a rucksack full of sandwiches and a water bottle. The home bound run(with empty rucksack) usually tops up the daily distance to 11 miles in total.
There were only a few runners in the front line that I recognised. With D Allinson, J Wardman(Rothwell) and M Hall(Otley) the only runners that should stay in my sights. I exchanged a few words with J Wardman, who said he would be trying to go for 56 mins, with the first five done at comfortable pace. It seemed reasonable to try and keep him close by to achieve a good time. When the race started a runner from Sheffield soon opened up a lead on the rest and a small chasing group developed behind him. This contained about five of us. The pace felt good to me and I was not struggling to keep up. It was only after about 6 miles that I started to drift off the pace with the group and then it became a case of damage limitation after that. I was overtaken by a chap from Goole Viking near the end and eventually finished in 59-13, first vet 45 and £20 in Rundirect vouchers. Some of the other runners seemed to have struggled which made it easier to take. Ive had worse days.
Thanks for reading.
