Fleet Half Marathon

Yes, I know. It's been a long time since my last post. I'm a busy man! What can I say...
Anyhow, the run. Crikey! That'll teach me for concentrating my training more on cycling! It was tougher than I thought it was going to be. Alot more tough than the last half marathon I did which was a breeze because I trained properly for it. Lesson 1, if you are going to run just over 13 miles a bit of running training wouldn't hurt too much! I thought my cycling would carry me through, and it did, but it still hurt!
Come the day, 25th March 2011, I was intending to run it with my mate Rik who's an Army bod, but I forgot to get in touch with him before the run to arrange a meeting place. My wife had come along with the kids to give me a bit of moral support and as we were stood in a crowd of people she said "good luck trying to find a bald squaddie in this lot"! And she was right! Just 3 mile from Aldershot and surrounded by MOD training land, the amount of squaddies who had entered the race was a pretty high number. Right, I'm off for a pre race wee in the bushes as the Que for the portaloo was half a mile long. On my return who should be stood talking to my missus but Rik! How do? Rik and I decided to run together for as long as possible and the time came for us to make our way to the start. My son Harrison wanted to run with us an was very disappointed when I said he couldn't! Maybe when you're a bit older son, then you can put your old man to shame!
Off we go! Rik said that he wanted to run at a pace of around 8 minute miles to get a time of about 1 hour 45 so I set the pace. Rik however kept creeping ahead of me and running a little quicker than I wanted to so at the 5 mile point I let him move on ahead and decided to run my own race. At the 6 mile point I spotted my family by the side of the road, Harrison shouting at the top of his voice and cheering me on! Stop to give him a quick kiss and off I go again.
7 and 8 miles came and went and I began to slow down. Beggining to feel it in my calves now. Got to overtake the bloke in a Lizard suit. some bloke with Martin on the back of his shirt, he seems to be running at a reasonable pace, I'll stick with him for a bit. Nope, I got more juice in my tank than you chum, eat my dust! Coming up to 10 miles now and slowing down more. No longer the brisk pace of 8 minute miles for me! Closer to 10-11 minutes per mile now. Pain is now a constantly present companion. Every step and push forward is hurting. Hills. Don't you just love them? They said this was a flat course. Well it is, except for the hilly bits! 11 miles. Pain. Calves burning. 2 miles to go now shut up your whinging and get on with it! But it HURTS! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Pain is temporary. Yes, well it might be temporary but it still bloody hurts you idiot! Slowing down, keep moving forward. 12 mile marker goes past. Right one more mile to go, dig deep. Pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain pain, all I can think about is pain! The last bit of the course is up hill of course! Not far to go, keep on trucking. Pound that pavement! I can't think of when I was last in this much Ouch for so long. This last mile is a bit frigging long isn't it? Are you sure it's a mile? Did someone make a mistake with the tape measure?
I can hear the loudspeaker of some bloke at the finish line. Pain. The people by the side of the road cheering us on are great. Pain pain. There's someone giving out Jelly Babies, I'm having me a hand full of them thank you very much! Pain.
I crest the hill and turn left toward the finish line and overtake that bloke in the pink tutu I've been gaining on for the last 10 minutes. Pain pain pain. Downhill now, thank gawd! Turn left into the park, and attempt to put on a bit of a sprint finish which basically means that I increase my speed from that of a snail to that of a slightly quicker snail! And cross the line in 2 hours 40 seconds!
Like I said, i could have done with a bit more running training before the event. I'll remember that for the next time...
Next, the big one. The Three Peaks Cycling Challenge. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it!