I was once so proud of you....

... my September '05 10k PB! Unfortunately for you though (and happily for me), you are now being tossed out and have been replaced by a better PB! Although I worked hard to earn you my "old PB" friend, you have served your purpose and so its now out onto the lonely streets of PB history - soon to be forgotten by all but me.

Today started well without any shin pain and a quick piece of toast a check of the weather and I was out the door.

An easy warm up jog with Greybeard and a plenty of hellos to fellow Cool Runners, a quick few moments to focus and we were off. I foolishly stayed in the middle of the pack for the first 300m and was slowed a little but by the 2nd km I was settled into a good rhythm and feeling good. Hindsight - they say its a wonderful thing and let me tell you it is! I wish I had taken the time to drink something before toeing the start line between the time I woke up and the start of the race. I thought about my thirst for ages and how dry my mouth and then throat were. I walked through a drink stop at km 6 and lost my rythm for a while while the guy I was sort of comfortably running behind slipped away from me and joined a small pack that were just easing away from me the rest of the journey.

I ended up running most of the second lap alone but surprisingly managed to gather my thoughts and focus on breathing correctly.

Garmin Splits
Lap 1 4:43, 4:47, 4:52, 4:48, 4:58
Lap 2 5:11, 4:55, 4:47, 4:59, 4:46

Apart from split #6 where I lost the plot I am stoked with my splits!

I usually have a strong finish but today I was sooo tired it just wasn't there to draw on - I guess it was starting to warm up a bit too. I gave everything I had left in the last 700m and when I looked up at the clock it was 48:53 tick, tick, tick (push hard! more!) it seemed so far away and was almost ticking in slow motion - I slipped past the line with the clock ticking onto 48:59 and was unable to say a word to anyone for a couple of minutes.

So Go Girl, you may have won our blogging challenge (this time) but I have to confess I am not feeling at all like a loser! In fact, I am feeling rather chuffed with myself having sliced off 34 seconds from my now redundant but only 3 month old PB. Thanks for your best wishes over this challenge everyone!

The rest of the year will all be easy runs and a bit of rest to get over any niggles (I hope you are listening right shin!). My Marathon debut training starts in earnest in January.