Well that's it done then...

Back from London yesterday, having had a very, very tough day in the sun.

Went down Saturday morning and via a combination of Boris Bike, tube and DLR arrived at the expo.  Registered, got my chip and had a wander round a few stalls, including viewing and buying the new Nike+ GPS watch.  Well it's waterproof - it'd be rude not to.

Then spent a dull afternoon lounging around the hotel room before going out for tea with lots of Harriers and their families.  Paul S and Emma both looking for 4:15 and young Dan chasing something speedy - I was the veteran of the group and was dispensing sage advice whilst not really knowing what I was looking for.

The weather forecast was for hot weather, but the peak temps weren't expected until mid-afternoon, so I thought a PB could be feasible, if not sub-3.  So finally I decided the strategy would be to set off at about 7min pace and see how I felt after a few miles.

The Fast GFA start was brilliant, and I met up with a few of my RW chums, including Martin who was painted purple.  The pen was crowded (presumably a result of dropping the blokes' U40 time to 3:10) but even so we were away and over the line in under a minute.

7 min pace felt comfortable, and I went through 5k in 21:30, so decided to keep it going.  15k came and went at about the same pace, with the temperature still feeling ok.  Over Tower Bridge and past halfway in 1:31 - so no chance of sub-3, but that was never really on the cards.  However a 1:35 2nd half would give a nice PB and I was still feeling good.

It's tricky to know where I started to struggle - the stats would suggest 30-35k, so really only in the last 6 or 7 miles, but to be honest I was feeling pretty warm from 15m onwards.  From 35km to the last mile I felty like I was running through treacle, but actually my worst 5k was still averaging 8:14 - so not the 9:50's of 2007.  I also managed to resists the temptation to have a little walk, although I did need to stop to stretch out an onset of cramp in my hamstrings.

I saw another RW mate, Poacher, on the embankment walking, and I tried to persuade him to run the last mile with me, but he was suffering so I left him to it.  I did find that when I put my mind to it I could actually go a bit quicker, so I speeded up a bit for the last mile and a half after the 40k marker, and stopped the watch on 3:11:25.

So not the sub-3 I'd started off hoping for, but given how much travelling I've done, and the slight motivational problems I've had now and again (I really did think of jacking in a mile into a 20 miler a few weeks ago) I'm pretty pleased to have got within 4mins of a PB.  The weather was horrid in the last hour, and nearly everyone I met afterwards said they'd struggled and had missed their target.

Will I do it again?  Certainly not next year, but I think I'll be back for another bash in 2013 - it'd be rude not to, wouldn't it?