Warrington English Half Marathon

I ran in the Warrington English Half marathon last Sunday just 1 week after finishing 2nd at the Lake Vyrnwy Half.  Originally Lake Vrynwy was to be my target race with an aim to win and hopefully a pb and then do Warrington Half a week later with an aim to hopefully win but not worry about the time and enjoy it.  With having a cold leading up Lake Vrynwy I was happy with my position of 2nd and my time which was slower than originally planned.  So I then decided that perhaps I could try and target a fast time at Warrington instead.

Although I have done this race for the last 2 years I had forgotten how its not really a course for a fast time.  Lots of long drags that aren't too steep but enough to slow you down!  Its also got some twisty parts too.  After a couple of kilometres I decided that although I was feeling good (and in the lead) that a fast time wasn't going to happen.  

I really enjoyed this race.  For most of it I ran with 3 other men and they helped me stay focused to not let them get away from me.  

I finished in 1st place for the 3rd year running and was 8th over all including the men.  My time although wasn't fast it wasn't too slow either (78.58) and is the fastest I've done at this race. 

A really good atmosphere and well organised race.

It was also quite a boost to see my picture in Athletics Weekly!

Lake Vyrnwy Half

I've been looking forward to racing at the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon as its a race I've wanted to do before but didn't fit in with what I was doing.  So when I woke up on Wednesday morning with a really sore throat which then developed into a full blown cold as the day went on I was gutted.

I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday resting in between work and dosing up on vit C, echinacea and lemsip.  By Saturday I was starting to feel a bit better but not great.  Sunday morning I woke feeling really wiped out.  I was in two minds whether to race.  In the end I decided I'd only sit at home regretting it if I didn't do the race and if I had a bad one it would be better than not bothering so off I went!

Its an afternoon start so at least I didn't have to rush around!  When I got there and went for a jog warm up my legs actually felt quite good.  The race started and I ran just behind the lead girl.  I stayed with her for about 5/6k but although my legs felt good my breathing was all over the place and my throat felt really dry.  I had to back off a bit but felt happy just to be doing the race.  

Apart from not feeling at my best I really enjoyed the race.  I had a strong last couple of miles and picked off a few men and finished in 2nd place.  I was surprised to finish in 77.45 as I didn't expect to get much under 80 mins!

I'm so glad I did it.  It the past if I've been ill leading into a race I've normally decided against racing but this shows that as long as you take it easy you are likely to end up with a reasonable result.  I really did enjoy this race and hope to come back next year.  Less than a week to recover now before I do the Warrington Half.  I just hope its enough time to properly get rid of this cold and for my legs to recover.