Go!!!

Well the red wine last night did the trick and once I'd dragged my bloated belly into bed I was pretty much out for the count.  Apart from a brief interlude at about 4am when Kerry was woken by Heston bouncing on her head, which then meant I was woken up too, I slept pretty soundly through to 7:30 when my alarm went off.  I did have one weird dream about getting home from the race without my medal but I put that down to the cheese on the lasagne last night.  Anyway, my darling wife got up with me and made me a delicious breakfast of porridge and fresh coffee before I jumped into the car and headed off to Fleet.  An uneventful hour later I was parked up and strolling towards the Race HQ ready for my first challenge of the year.  I had run Fleet just once before, five years ago, and managed a time of 1:58:30, so my target for this year was based on that.  However being realistic I had calculated my WAVA adjusted time so my goal was 2:03:26.  For those of you who don't know, WAVA is the World Association of Veteran Athletes and running magazines and websites often refer to a "WAVA Rating".  This is a scoring system that takes your age into account, by comparing your race time to that of the world record holder in your age group. It can also be used to compare performances between athletes (or your own performances) of different ages.
Today was bright and crisp, great running weather and I felt really excited as I joined the other 2500 runners preparing for the off.  The course is slightly undulating and after a bit of a pre-amble around the town centre streets we headed out into the glorious Hampshire countryside.  I knew I had to keep below 9:25 a mile to achieve my target time, and after the inevitable slow first mile when the massed ranks begin to spread out and make running at your own pace a bit easier, I was achieving that pace comfortably.  In fact I was clicking along nearer to 9 minute miles so I set my sights on a couple of club runners who seemed to be running well within themselves (they were chatting to each other and not doing impressions of asthmatic ants!) and decided to try and keep up with them for the next few miles.  I had only done a couple of training runs over 8 miles so I knew that would be the telling point, and to be honest miles 9 and 10 were a real slog and I started slowing down and lost my pacers.  However when I reached the 10 mile point I realised that not only was I in with a real chance of beating my goal time but also, if I really put my head down, I may even break the 2 hour mark.  That realisation gave me a bit of a lift and I dug deep and kicked for home.  Mile 11 flew past and by now I was in the groove and passing other runners all the time.  Mile 12 went similarly quickly, even if I was feeling pretty knackered by now, panting like a greyhound and sweating like a carthorse.  As I reached the one mile to go point I realised that not only was "sub two" well within my grasp but my actual 2006 time was there for the taking as well.  Summoning up my last reserves of energy I pushed up the last hill, turning at the top and sprinting (well, relatively speaking) the final 400m, crossing the line in 1:55:25.  That's my second fastest time overall and best WAVA adjusted time ever.  Well chuffed!  I drove home with a big grin on my face and spent the rest of today gorging myself on cake, red wine and a lovely roast pork dinner.  Well I did burn off nearly 2000 calories this morning!
Tomorrow will be a rest day and then I'll go for a gentle recovery run on Tuesday, after all, it's only two weeks to the inaugural Croydon Half Marathon! (S).