It became clear earlier in the week that I wouldn’t be needed for an “on the day” volunteer job this week, so I started psyching myself up for a tilt at a PB. It was halloween week, though I’d been so busy I wasn’t able to really think about a costume, and I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise the PB attempt! Jodie on the other hand played the role of “Zombie Runner” perfectly!

When I got there the team had done a brilliant job decorating the scanning tent and there were plenty of others in fancy dress. It was a lot of fun.

Conditions were perfect, and Montacute House looked as amazing as ever.

Simon and getting paced around for a sub-21 today by our thursday intervals coach Dave. I thought I’d try and hang on with them as long as I could, knowing I wasn’t going to get around in that time. The strategy almost paid off. I stuck with them all the way to halfway and started drifting back after the 2 mile mark.

The last mile was a real struggle, especially with the killer hill at the end, which I walked up again. I’m a firm believer that if I ran up it, I wouldn’t have the energy to run quick over the last 0.2 miles of the course. But equally, I haven’t had the balls to actually test it yet!

I managed to cross the line in 21:50, 20s outside my target but generally pretty happy. I’m still on track to go sub-20 on a flat course by the end of the year. I just need to do more interval work at a flat out rate – as it was my breathing that was causing issues. So I need to push it more.

Jodie ran with Paige and a young girl for the first lap as the responsible adult for the first lap. The girl had a lot of fun so Jodie was well utilised 🙂

As it was Jodie’s birthday run (And mine I guess – I’m not running next week, volunteering instead) we had some lovely cakes made by Jodie’s dad. But Aime and Sue (Other volunteers/regulars) also came with cake!

A good day and pleased with a PB. Here’s the Garmin Activity.