Bit of a lie in this morning as todays race (Great Eastern Run) in Peterborough does not start until 10:30. There are 6 of us from the club running today & I'm getting a lift to P'Bro from Chris (& Clare). We set off at 9am and are in P'Bro heading for the gathering area beside the Cathedral by 10am. A quick loo stop at McDonalds (thank you Roland) and we wander off up the road towards the start pens which have signs indicating estimated finishing times. On the way I bump into Andy Skailes (a previous club member and extremely fast runner) and ask him what time he expects to do today. The reply is 1:25 as he has a bit of a cold, so we won't be seeing much of him then. A few minutes later as Chris is undressing ready for the race Richard arrives with family and a few minutes later Nikki says hello on her way to the start. No sign of Mark or Sylvia but no doubt they are here somewhere in the crowd. We say goodbye to Clare, after dumping all our excess clothing with her, and head up to the 1:45 time marker. Soon it's time to go and we give Sally Gunnel a wave as we pass the start gantry a couple of mins after she fired the starting gun. Richard & I start together as he is hoping for a PB today never having run sub 1:52 for a HM before. I'm sure he'll do this and set off at a 7:45 pace for the first 3 miles. Chris is close on our heels and then between miles 4 & 5 I start to feel a bit rough and slow a little only to watch Richard & Chris gradually pull away in the distance. Someone taps me on the elbow & it's Mark who also quickly glides past & soon catches up with Chris (I think). So I am now last man standing & feeling rough. I have a gel and give myself a bit of a talking to, but my fifth mile is 8:50 and I suspect I've blown it. However, the gel soon kicks in and I'm back on 8:15 miles and feeling much stronger. I keep looking for glimpses of the club vest up ahead but there is no sign so Richard, Chris, & Mark must be flying. I manage to maintain a good pace and another gel at the 10 mile point helps me to keep going. Between miles 11 & 12 I pass Nikki who is looking a little tired but still going well and a glance at my watch suggests I can still beat my GNR time if I push on hard. I push as hard as I can but save a bit in reserve for a sprint to the line, the only trouble being I have no idea when 'the line' will appear as I've not run this course before. Soon we head off into a park and then the finish line straight is ahead. I sprint (well that's what it felt like, but observers may have a different opinion) and cross the line in 1:47:27, around 30 secs slower than my GNR time but given how I felt around mile 5 I'm very happy. After searching around the finish area I eventually meet up with Richard, Chris & Clare and get some extra clothing on. Richard is very pleased with his 1:44 finish time, as is Chris who finished only a few seconds behind him. We can't see Mark anywhere though & the others ask me if I saw him in the last few miles as he apparently dropped back from them. I'm afriad my head was down and concentrating though so I don't know when I passed Mark but I must have somewhere as when I look at the results later he finished in 1:52. The results also show that Nikki finished in 1:48 and Sylvia bang on 2 hours. So a good club outing and well done to us all. Now Richard Mark & I have next Sundays 23 miles to look forward to.........great.
(BTW In case you're wondering how Andy got on he was spot on with his estimate & finished in 1:25 !!)
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