Surrey Spitfire 20

Boy, was that hard work. Our aim was to run a marathon pace of 8:30 minute miles (we are going for 3:45 in Brighton) to see if we could hack it. It was a rainy, dank morning and I really didn't feel like running and neither did my brother. But run we did and the weather was kind as by mile 4 its had stop raining and was a very nice temperature. We started way too fast running sub 8 for the first 2 but we settle down and we hit just below the 8:30 pace every mile on the first 10 mile lap.

We had over 4 minutes 'in the bank' as we started lap 2 but it was starting to hurt. My stomach was horrible due to the gels and maybe the clams I had last night. I felt I was hanging on and it wasn't surprising give I hit the half marathon point at about 1:46; my PB until the Brighton Half.

I dug in, knowing I just had to keep going to beat my previous PB of 1:53:26. My brother has bursts of speed but I could see he was working hard. The last mile was agony but I was under the 2:50 mark. My brother decided to sprint the last 500 meters but I let him go.

I was delighted with my PB and it gives me a real chance of a 3:45 in Brighton.

Time: 2:47:05
Position: 235 out of 661
First: 1:50:39
Last: 4:16:53
Nutrition: Water at every opportunity. High5 gel (x1), Clif Blocks (x1), SiS Gel (x1).