Sunday, 7 September 2014

Maidenhead Half 9#14

Another weekend another half Marathon this week we headed to Maidenhead for 9#14 it's billed as a very quick course so excitement was high. Again David Peddle joined for the 2nd half running. We arrived and parked in a muti-story car park a bit unusual but this half marathon started bang in the middle of a the town. Joining us on the start line was fellow park runners Abby and Sarah and our two NYC marathon runners Nick and Alistair. They start line was fairly crammed and we shuffled our way to the 1hr50 marker and waited for the start.

As the gun went off me and David started off at steady pace James was not far behind as we ran through the streets of Maidenhead. As usual it takes a few miles for our legs to get going and we set off a little faster than expected. The weather was being very kind to us and it was a cool sunny beautiful morning. The course was 2 big loops with the mile markers for the 2nd lap visible I’m not a big fan of seeing these markers they are mentally a bit of a challenge for me. 
After a mile we headed out the town and headed left along the river Thames and continued to run 8 min mile pace. After mile 4 I was feeling the pace a little and slowed up and had a look behind me to see if James was in sight. James was talking about going for a PB this morning so when he passed me a 6 miles looking strong I he defiantly looked on for it.

With the first loop of the course done I knew what to expect on the second and it was a challenge keep up my sub 8:30 mile pace. I dropped David at around 8 miles but could see James pulling away in the distance he was having a fantastic run and looked likely that a PB was on the cards. Towards 10 miles and I was feeling it the pace the course although flat is had a few lumpy bits and on one of the hills at mile 11 I had a little walk much to my disappointment. Dug in for the final miles of a really nice course the finish twisted through the high street of Madienhead to the finish line where we started.


I found James and got filled on his epic run and new PB of 1:44:46 what a fantastic performance be really ran well and nailed a brilliant PB!

After photos of all of us who took part in a really fun morning and a post run chat we headed to the pub for a well-deserved pint and pub lunch beside the river. James deserved his PB today he really ran his arse off and was legendary!!


James 1:44:46

Duncan 1:52:07

Dave 1:55:20

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