Brid Half: Not a leisurely day at the seaside.

Near perfect conditions produced a large turnout for this annual event; a cool but welcoming on- shore breeze with clear blue skies. Judging by the amount of cash on the table quite a lot of people opted to enter on the day. This is one event where anyone who doesn't pre -enter misses out on the prizes.

Gathered at the front were: Andy Pearson(Longwood), Mark Hall(Otley), Tim Midgely(Bingley), Stuart McDonald(Bingley), Stuart Carmicheal(City of Hull), Paul Marchant(Leeds City).

As predicted, Andy Pearson was in front followed by Paul Marchant. Andy soon increased the pace on approaching the first roundabout. I set off fairly fast and it took to about the 2 mile point for the Bingley pair to catch me. I then stayed with them a bit until Tim M opened a gap and increased the pace. This was too fast for me and I stayed with Stuart M for a bit until he decided to try close the gap to Tim M. It was then solitary running, until I was caught by Mark H at about the 10k point - which I reached in 34-40. I passed the 10 mile point in 58-15 and then struggled with the remaining 3 miles. I was overtaken again on the final 500 meters. Legs were seriously mashed at this point and I was happy for the race to finish.

I recorded a time of 1-17-16, which was a little down on what I was hoping for, but collecting a Yorks Vet 45 trophy and £25 cheque helped mask the disappointment.

Mile splits were: 5-37, 5-38, 5-29, 5-39, 5-57, 6-04, 5-59, 6-19, 5-38, 5-48, 6-13, 5-56, 6-00

Fitness Update

Sorry it's been a long time since my last blog entry. I have to admit I rather enjoy reading other peoples blogs and commenting rather than writing them myself. It is interesting to read about some runners returning to the sport again - after taking some time out. I've heard it called the sport you never give up(unless through injury). However frustrating, however painful, we never seem to want to stop doing it. Nothing prepares the mind better than going out for a run or doing a race. Only a runner can understand the buzz of it all.

The Horsforth 10k was my last race and it felt good to mix with the front runners once again. A time of 34-49 on the day was fairly respectable, given that it's not really an easy course. I was just over a minute off the winning pace and so no real complaints about that. Beating team mate Kevin O was a bonus.

I am still training hard and managing to do about 50 miles a week; one long run of 17 miles and a fast session on Thursdays. Last nights fast session was a total of 6k; 5 x 500m in 1-35, 2 x 1000m in 3-20, plus 5 x 300m in 51 seconds.

I have a number for the Brid Half on Sunday, so that should hopefully be a good test of my fitness.