Sub 100 mins...!

This weekend (21st Feb) was my first half marathon of the year - the Wokingham Half.

Despite having a worry about my knee (ended up not running Thursday through to Sunday) I decided to turn up and give it a try, my aim being to get a sub 1:45.

The organisation at the start was appalling, not helped by the heavy rain, but at the point when they began the countdown to the start there was still a 15-20 min baggage queue remaining. I ended up just dumping my bag in the massage tent, quick stop for the loo and then trying not to slide down the grass as I ran towards the start line.

Luckily the race was chipped but the chaotic start meant that starting positions were out of the window. Hence I was overtaking people until at least mile 10 and at that point I had quite a number of people overtake me - all of which is a little disconcerting at that point in the race.

All that said, my knee played ball. Only for the first half mile did it feel like something was trying to escape from inside my kneecap (although, bizarrely, not in a painful way!) Soon my crossness over the start was replaced by suprise as I felt strong and resonably quick.

My first few miles were faster than I anticipated and I decided to try and hang on. I felt comfortable and running within my self until around mile 10 when it became a little tougher probably from being overtaken by a big group of runners!

I crossed the line in 1:38:35!

Thus achieving my half marathon goal for the year of going sub 1:40 (and hence sub 100 mins) for a new PB in my first half of the year!