Sunday 10 February 2008

Torrington Torment = ouch!!!


Geez that was hard work. Today was a local Half Marathon called the Torment and yup, the name suits it. With legs that were already smashed from a few daft sessions during the week I lined up in Torrington alongside a small field of like minded lunatics. The ideal target was to break 1h30m for the first time on this course, if I could do that I'd be well up the field because with over 3,000ft of climbing this is one slow race.
The first 3 miles went well enough as I ran along in and around a group of 6 runners, quite quickly but easily under control. Then my legs started tying up and with nearly 10miles to go I was already in trouble, not good. There was only one option, ease off, so I did. Luckily I can cruise along at a fair old lick so although the group ran away from me I managed to keep some of them within sight for a good while as they fragmented. The next 7miles were tough going and I seemed to be just plodding along, then at 10miles I noticed someone ahead of me, obviously other people were hurting too. I picked the pace up to see if I could catch them and I felt suprisingly good. At 10.5miles I caught and passed them only to see 2 more runners ahead, now I was back in my stride and feeling strong so I pressed on.
A mile later they to were behind me and another runner had appeared on the horizon, could I catch him???? Yeah, why not. The hammer was dropped as I realised that not only could I pull a decent finish position out of the bag but that 1h30m finish was also on the cards. Onto the last big climb and my target was in sight, I almost sprinted the hill to make sure that I got past and put some distance into him before the last half mile which was one of the only flat bits on the course. Over the top of the hill and it was job done, I could see 2nd and 3rd place ahead, but they were too far ahead for me to catch. My legs were screaming now, that last hill had been a killer, but the time target was on and I had to carry on pushing it. Finally I crossed the line in 1:29:25 and 4th place. Demons exorcised and even though I'd been in a world of pain for over half the race I'd still achieved the target, that can only bode well for when the suffering starts in Florida (I hope so at least).
Next up it's the 3mile/34mile/4mile Birthday Training Tri for my clubmate Phill (http://www.bfitday.com/) on Saturday. There could be up to 10 of us doing this so it may well be a fun day out. We'll see :)

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