The Unofficial Fleet Half

I'm on a complete high this evening.

For the following reasons:

1. I didn’t have to plan my run

2. I had company. James (who kindly planned the route), and Tom.

3. It didn’t go up (or down) any mountains.

4. There’s a degree of relaxation that comes from knowing that some good mileage tonight means an opportunity to do a few less miles tomorrow, and still be on target.

So back to my old home town of Fleet: familiar pavements and kerbs, good places to cross roads, and the eternally blinky street light on Elvetham Road. My old stomping ground, literally.

Way back when, before the days of a GPS and GoogleEarth I used to run to work and back each day, and towards the end of each week I'd start varying my route home to try and up the mileage from the week before. I'd run easy on the way in (so as not to be too sweaty), and run hard on the way home. Occassionally I'd nip out on my scooter and ride my routes, to check the distance, but as far as pace went, I'd just start steady and keep turning the screw until I either got home, or felt a bit wobbly.

Tonight, thanks to James and Tom, was one of those evenings, and it felt great.

Three Amigos

I'd asked James last week to think about a run round Fleet of at least twelve miles. It was around the same time that I told him I'd be missing the Fleet Half Marathon this year due to work commitments. So James dug into the memory banks of marathon training routes, and using most of Fleet's main arteries, produced our very own Unofficial Fleet Half.

Both James and Tom are starting to log a few more miles again. Tom training for the London Marathon, James just to keep his health in check. Both of them work very hard, and suffer at least a couple of hours of commuting each day, so get out when they can.

Whilst I can normally hold my own against them away from tarmac, both are long-limbed, and naturally quick on the hard stuff. However, James has reservations about his form, and Tom's knees can suffer if he tries to run more slowly than normal.

So tonight I set the pace, with James feeding me directions in advance of road junctions. Beginning with a few warm-up miles in the 8:40s, with everyone looking comfortable and chatting away, I started turning the screw.

Often this just meant leaving Tom out front for a while. But with a bit of swapping about, we managed to gradually wind the pace upwards as we ticked the miles off.

Compared to my gentle plod last night, I felt on fire. The New Mizuno Wave Elixirs felt phenomenal underfoot, and I felt far more at home in these on their first outing, than I've done in either of my squidgier road shoes of late.

As the end of the run came in sight, I managed to convince the guys to press on to a far corner, rather than heading direct for home, on the promise that we'd back right off when we reached it. Not a bit of it, turning the corner we wound up for the final straight, and charged head to head along the wet road for the final quarter mile, bringing our run average to 7:45 mins per mile, with the final mile under 7:00.

I love trail running, and I have no objections to challenging conditions, but sometimes, when you're feeling good, a bit of pace on a hard surface can be the perfect tonic to a testing day, week, or even Janathon.

I read recently that you shouldn't try to run fast. The trick is to try to fly low.

(...and perhaps to eat a lot of chilli - nice one James)


Summary:
Today: 13.1 miles, 1:41 hrs, 1856 cals
January: 191.2 miles, 39:20 hrs, 25676 cals