Nort on for a PB this time.

Cool and perfect running conditions this Sunday saw a good turnout for the annual Norton 9 Mile Road Race. I like doing this one because although it's all on the road it's mainly country roads and very scenic. The only drawback is that it's only 9 mile(as apposed to 10 mile) and not usually recognized on the ranking pages. It reminds me of parts of the Ackworth Half Marathon course or the Askern 10 Mile - both good courses. I wasn't sure what time I was going to get this year. I thought I was probably slightly less fitter than last year - due to the interruptions to the winter training. I have been doing some reasonable long runs at tempo pace(8-10 miles at marathon pace) and I think this as helped my endurance , although still slightly down on the fitness scale compared to last year.

In the line up at the front was Andrew Pearson(Longwood), Pumlani Bangani(Salford), Darren Newbould(Hallamshire) Carl Ryde(Doncaster) . As expected Andrew set off quick and Carl Ryde tried to follow but soon had to ease back. That's the last I saw of those two and it was solo running for me in parts, until I was joined later by Paul Collingwood(Askern) at about 3 miles. A young chap joined us after he fell off the pace from the group in front(about 8 miles). The pace felt good for me and I thought that I would be able to maintain this pace all the way hoping that some of the others runners from the group in front would fade. I was expecting Pumlani to charge past at some stage in the race going by his other results here. This didn't happen and near to the nine mile point I surged forwards and a gap developed between me and Paul Collingwood. My tactic was to try to develop a gap to avoid a very painful sprint finish. This worked out and Paul eventually broke down and drifted backwards. I finished the race in 9th, with a respectable time of 52-18, first V45 - with an average pace of about 5-48 per mile. About a minute down on last year but I enjoyed the run and was well pleased with it.