Wilmslow half marathon

Race: Wilmslow Half Marathon
Time/Position: 1:19:59 (64th from 5000)
Rather like the Twin Piers race in January, it seemed almost impossible that this race would go ahead when I looked out of my window at 17cm of snow on Saturday morning. But, Wilmslow was completely snow-free, although I wouldn't care to guess what the windchill factor was. With 20mph easterlies forecast, it was obvious that a PB was not on the cards, but I felt fairly good initially. However, even going through 10k in 36:30 or so wasn't entirely comfortable and I had the wind at my back for most of this! In short, I'm not sure I had the legs to run my target time today whatever the weather. I went through 10 miles a minute slower than I'd done in Wrexham (59:40) and only then did we face the worst of the weather: a devastating freezing headwind that made life very hard on the surprisingly hilly run in. I lost a lot of time here, didn't enjoy myself very much, and just scraped sub 80m in the end. All a bit unfortunate, as I was hoping for sub 77m at worst, but at least it made for a long run on a very well organised rural circuit which, strangely, I've never done before (although this was possibly my 40th half marathon). Extended the run (and day) by parking car and family in town, then driving for a curry in Manchester!