A year on and the Abbey Dash

Just checked back and realised it's just about a year since I started this blog. That was when I had just started building up for Blackpool marathon, but was still pretty much well into my speed work with lower mileage than currently.

I've had my cold for most of the last 10 days or so, so my mileage has been a bit low, with just a couple of sessions last week, then a break before Sunday's race. I wasn't even sure I'd be running Sunday as I'd had a few nights of poor sleep and I was still coughing a lot - however there was a few folks from work running and by Saturday my cold was feeling a bit better.

The problem with the Abbey Dash these days is that it's so big that they have done away with any possibility of a decent warm up, so I found myself doing a few drills on the town hall steps prior to any jogging (unless you count a slightly rapid meander to find somewhere to wee). After a few high steps I felt a bit of a pain in my calf - here we go again...

However it didn't seem to hurt when I had a little jog, so I ended up on the start line waiting to go. The start seemed only a bit more organised than last year, with assorted biffers in the sub-35 pen at the start, but I guess I was over the line in 15 seconds or so. I have taken to being somewhat less than polite near the start of races with people who have clearly started in the wrong place, in some ill-fated attempt to persuade them to start further back next time.

However, by 1km (about 3:40) I was running in the clear, with the odd Harriers' vest up ahead. I found myself running with a guy who introduced himself as Jules, and for the first two or three miles I felt really easy. I hit 5k at about 19:25, so well inside my target of sub-40, and was still feeling comfortable with the pace about 6:10. The sixth mile started to feel a bit tougher, and I noticed myself being passed by a few people - although it still didn't feel anywhere near eyeballs out.

The usual tough pull up the slip road felt easier than ever before, and my pace for the last 0.2m was down about 5:40 pace. I'd said that sub39 would be a huge bonus, so I was hugely chuffed with 38:22. 50 seconds slower than last year, but run off virtually no speed work and 10 days of cold, so pretty happy all round.