Time/Position: 3.07.19 (1281 from 24,000)
I last did Manchester in 2013, when the course had been wrongly measured and all the results were declared null and void. This was a shame, as it was a PB for me at the time - it took me until 2021 to get back to that level with my first post-Covid London. The idea today was to get my London qualifying time back: even though I've done London 12 times I still feel I'm missing out when I don't do it. As usual, I hadn't done enough long runs on tarmac at race pace, and this year that was combined with a general lack of racing. In particular, I would usually have a fast half marathon in my legs. That was all missing, but it still went well on the long haul out from Old Trafford through Sale (where we had parked) to Altrincham. I went through half in 1.29, feeling reasonable although not brilliant. It was too warm, and the heat was starting to build on the mild hills around Altrincham and Timperley: unbroken sunshine throughout. I vaguely remembered bits of this southern suburban section from 2013, although the course was generally pretty different. At the 16 mile mark I began to slow, and at 30k I started to implode in classic fashion. I then just went from gel to gel, losing energy pretty rapidly when they worked their way through the system. I had a couple of really grim patches, worse than I have experienced for years, and obviously lost a lot of time as a result. But I just about held it together to get to the last 5k, which I jogged in, upping the pace for the final section along Denmark Road and up Oxford Road to the University, which made a brilliant finish for obvious personal reasons.
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