Last night was the final Chase the Moon of the season, as the moon will be in retirement for the summer and allowing THE SUN to be chased instead! I am so excited by this, Chase the Sun is the highlight of my summer. I love turning up every week and seeing my running buddies at different venues all over London and sitting in parks admiring our medals…
But first, there was one more chilly, dark run to endure! The building works at the Olympic Park are ongoing, so we’re still on the snail-shaped route which I don’t like as much as the old one. The worst bit is running round the stadium where there are some gates with metal thingies at foot level. They are a serious trip hazard and I felt relieved every time I passed out without landing flat on my face. It was a bit like hurdles.
At this stage in my half marathon training, with the added complications of a runny nose and windy weather, I didn’t think there was much point in trying for a PB, although I didn’t exactly take it slowly either. However, by 4km I realised I was well ahead of my last run there and possibly on for a PB so decided to ramp up the speed in my last kilometre. Inspecting my watch as I crossed the line, I was somewhat irritated to see that I’d run 34:41 – five seconds slower than my PB! If I’d realised I was going that fast I would have gone a bit faster. Still, it was a nice bonus to be sub 35 without really going for it and definitely a course record to boot. I went for a celebratory beer anyway and joked repeatedly about how maybe it had taken me six seconds to stop my watch. Unfortunately, the entire internet was broken last night and the official results didn’t hit until this morning. I didn’t hold out a lot of hope but I scanned the results for my name anyway…
34:35!! Seems it had taken me six seconds to stop the watch after all. A stunning, massive PB by one whole second! Best of all it means my PB is no longer at fucking Bromley! If I continue to improve at this rate it will only take me another 275 races to get sub 30. Hooray.
7:07 