Alloa13 (+)

Well the good thing about being in a club is you share what you are doing with people and running becomes a less isolated sport. The bad thing is that on foul days like this you still have to do what you said or others will know!

So I went to the Ochills not to climb the snowy, cloud covered slopes yesterday, but to run the flat and fast roads. The Alloa half marathon has a good reputation for a fast run, with a stiff pull in the last couple of miles. I was doing this in the middle of a 20mile run as marathon build up so wasn't expecting to be flying but have been feeling strong of late.

However the weather changed this weekend as the few brave Westies racing around the country found out. I really wasn't looking forward to this but here goes...The first 4 miles before the race was steady, with a strong cold wind. I ran down and back up the last two miles and finishing hill of the race route. So far so good.

The race started alright but a little loop through a scheme at the start means you pass the 1 mile marker twice at 1 and 2.5 miles, which is a bit odd. I felt good for the first 6 miles and steady in 7 min miles and keeping the hrm low. Then from 6-11 miles we ran under the Ochills along the A91 (?) and straight into the teeth of the strong and bitter wind and sleet. My eyes stung, my brain froze and my pace dropped. I drifted a bit around 9-11 miles and just tried to push on up the final hill, though the wind was side on now and almost wiped me out twice. Horrid!

After this quickly pulling on warm clothes and going out for a final three miles in more of the same was positively mad. In the end I ran 1:40:39 for the race. So I slowed considerably in the second half. How much of this was to do with the weather I don't know, or just being in a long run (or RS)? However it is a pb by 8 minutes on my awful run at Bristol last year so I really can't complain too much. Jethro won in 1:11:45 which maybe says something about the weather.

Posted by Jason Kaushal on Mon 19 Mar 2007 | 2 comments

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