Windmill Half Marathon 2013

With Marathon training for October Abingdon Marathon well under way, it was time to test myself over half that distance to see how much I’d progressed with my new super training schedule!

This was the 2nd year of the event up in Lytham near Blackpool and was apparently a flat, fast course.
My previous personal best of 1:17.54 was set back in October at the Perkins Great Eastern run. I knew I was in shape to beat this but didn’t know how much by.

We gathered on the start line and shot off around Fairhaven lake. One superfast guy shot off and we would on;y see him at the finish. That left 3 of us jostling for position as we headed back along the coast towards the windmill. We dropped one guy after 2 miles miles and I then ran the whole race with the guy who’d pip me at the end into 3rd place. There was a steady breeze with would swing our pace my 15/20 secs a mile in each direction. Nevertheless I would stick to my HR of 176,177. I was thankful for the guy who really paced my round as I tucked in behind him and tried to shelter from the wind.

I knew I was running well and completely running on the edge. It wasn’t until I saw the time on the clock counting up that I was to put in my final sprint knocking a huge 2 mins and 5 secs off my best to finish 3rd place with 1:15.49.

Ice cream BBQ and beers to celebrate!