East Retford Half Marathon

I ran the East Retford Half marathon today. This is a small race in Retford, Nottinghamshire. (In England -- just in case you were wondering.)

Anyway, I had a good time particularly because I wasn't straining to go too fast early on, and had the attitude that this was just a training run. I would run steady for the first half and speed up later on. I did not want to push myself too hard -- that is what my coach, Mad Dog, said to do as I am running a marathon in a few weeks, and should save my energy for that.

It was a good feeling speeding up towards the end and not having anyone pass me -- I think after 9 miles nobody passed me. Some had passed me earlier on, but I caught them up, and passed them again! Finishing time was 1 hour 43 minutes exactly.

Last year I wasn't in good enough shape to run this half marathon, and had to do the fun run instead, so it just shows how far I have come in a year.