Park half 2015

This year I didn't feel as strong or prepared as I have previously.
The last time I ran this race two years ago, I felt in much better shape. I had been pleasantly surprised by a 1:05 for the 10 miles a few weeks previously, but the length of my tempo runs has not been where I would like. Ideally, tempo runs, at about 20 seconds faster than marathon target pace, should be consistently around 10 to 12 miles, but I was only managing around 8. Having said that, they were fairly comfortable to run, but short on distance.
Something I have also realised, is that the weeks of running in the wrong trainers, did me no favours at all. The races I ran in them did not go well, with my legs tiring very quickly. Once I went back to the usual ones, I ran much better.
I was driving to the race with three club mates. About 5 minutes out on the way, I realised I forgot my racers, and had to go back. This got us there very tight on time, with no time for a warm up.
We jumped pretty much into the pack, after a quick toilet stop.
The weather was perfect, the atmosphere good, and I think it was the biggest crowd I have seen in a long time.
At the off, the first mile was predictably a bit fast at 6:15, with a 6:35 tar get pace. The aim was for slightly negative splits in the second half. I settled in to a comfortable pace around the 6:30 mark. Three miles out,mi picked up a local runner from home whom I had met out on the roads a few times. We settled in to a nice pace, and I was glad of the company. At 8 miles the pace was a bit hard for him, and despite my coaxing I had to push on. I met him shortly after the finish, and he PB'd with a 1:27, over two minutes off, which he kindly, but wrongly attributed to my pacing and encouragement.

The last two miles of this race is largely uphill, and while I was running very well to this point, with a  projected finish of under 1:24, the hill beat me, and I lost over a minute going up it.
I can never sprint finish, which I am always happy about as it means I have run the race to my max ability, and I kept a consistent pace to finish in 1:25:44. Pleasantly surprised by that, as it was faster Than two years ago when I felt much stronger and ran 3:08 in Dublin marathon.
There was no soreness the next day, with an easy 11 miles comfortable the next day.

In other news, the marathon luck keeps coming this year.
I got an entry on good for age for Boston 2016. It's only in April, so after Dublin and Christmas, it won't be long coming around.