Guernsey Half Marathon

Lee Merrien invited me to do this race and I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a half marathon at marathon pace. I chose not to do it flat out as I wanted a good week of training after it before I went to Font Romeu. I must admit, after all Lee's trash talk in the Guernsey Press: "If I run well, I expect to win", a little competitive flare did rise within, but that was soon doused by my sense of perspective, and the fact I'd been feeling pretty crap anyway...!

Lee wanted a good hard run out of it and Fraser Thompson, who is a good friend and occasional training partner, was along for the jolly but used it as part of his get fitter regime. We let Lee go after a spritely sub 5 mile and Fraser followed Lee a bit ahead of me. After a few quickish early miles I settled into a 5.10 rhythm and gradually closed in on Fraser. The course was point to point along the Guernsey coastline and had some windy sections and a few inclines and blessed with some pretty awesome scenery. It was also a very hot day which was good practice for Barcelona. 

I passed Fraser at about 6 miles and kept it steady from thereon in. By 10 mile sI started to feel like I was probably working harder than I really should be but I was aiming to run 67.30ish and crossed the line in 67.41. There's no doubt I felt a lot less comfortable than I wanted to but this is a symptom of how I have been feeling recently and it was good just to get a solid 13miler under my belt anyway. My 2nd place was rewarded with £200 and a clematis, which was lovely. Lee ran a sub 65 which is a pretty good solo run and will fill him with confidence no doubt, and I beat Fraser as he trundled home in 68.21, looking like he really enjoyed his first half marathon. 

The rest of the day was spent walking round Guernsey beaches and begging cafe waitresses to serve us food 'or we may die, or we'll get THE Lee Merrien to close you down' and soaking up the sun.

Splits: 4.54, 5.01, 5.14, 5.11, 5.14, 5.08, 5.10, 5.08, 5.10, 5.20, 5.15, 5.11, 5.09