Lake Vyrnwy half marathon

Race: Lake Vyrnwy half marathon
Time/Position: 1:18:25 (26th from 1346 [6th V40])
A rare foray onto tarmac and my first proper road race of 2011. As such I was entirely dependent on a summer of fell races for any 'speed', having also not done any intervals or formal speedwork all year. Inevitably, the first few miles were therefore a huge shock to the system and I really didn't think I could sustain even the modest 6 minute/mile pace I was doing. As early as the second mile I started to struggle, and the section along the south side of the lake to mile five didn't fill me with optimism as I barely managed to keep pace. However, I gradually adapted to the shock of endless flat tarmac and began to feel much better as I turned the corner. It was a very windy day, but this is about the most sheltered course possible, hemmed in by hills, tree-lined and pleasantly scenic throughout. Despite this, we did get some headwinds on the way back - strong gusts which made life difficult. I concentrated on moving from runner to runner but was never able to draft properly! I caught Jez just before the end, then immediately developed a dreadful stitch just when I wanted to increase the pace on the final downhill mile. This, and the wind, lost me a bit of time but I managed to sustain almost exact 6 min splits throughout the entire race (5:59). A weird distance for me, the half marathon. I've probably done 30 of them over many years (including this one in 2003, when it took me 1:52!) but have entered far fewer recently and have never recorded a decent time due to various misfortunes. As a result, this took a huge 3 mins of my PB - although it remains a minute or two slower than it should theoretically be.