Chase the Bunny by StephenWright

So today was my first RACE of the year!

The Dartford 10 (10 miles, not 10k - if that was the distance then it'd be called the Dartford 10k). If taken as a training run this should be at 9:06/m pace - which makes for a ... you can work it out - 91 minutes race!!!  But it being a race and the weather being unusually mild for this time of year, I decided to go with the flow and entered into a 'zone' quite quickly. The course for this run maps for a bit over the 1/2M route that I've done twice before. So the middle section - ironically for me known as Rabbits Lane - was a doddle as I knew that it was mildly downhill. I picked off those idiots that tried to sprint the whole thing as we crossed the 5-mile point, then at 6.25 miles (10k for you sportsfans) I was able to cruise past all those 10-mile first timers. You boys and girls should have put in the proper training!!!  There were the much talked-about hills at mile 4 and mile 9 but being a HEROS runner we are very comfortable with a bit of fell work. Perfect!  So I completed the run on top form!

Results: 1:23:15 (8:18/mil) - Av speed 7.2 mph Max speed 10.1mph total calories 1193 kcal. Hurrah!!!

Is it a PB for a 10-miler? I will just check records... [LONG pause] - well my Dry Hill 10 result from 10/9/06 was 1:22:34 but that was a completely different course... and my time above was unofficial - but what is important is that I felt good throughout - didn't really push myself to go mad and thought this must be a +ve outcome of all that cross-training. Next week - the Canterbury 10 (now how far is that, sports-fans?!)

This week training plan is 2 miles on Tuesday, 6 miles on Thursday and in theory a 12-miler on Sunday. Phew!

And I haven't even mentioned about training up till then - that's a gym session on Friday, gym on Saturday (aerobics class was fully-booked), Body Balance (nearly did the splits!!) and a full massage on Friday also. And I'm not even going to mention about the arrival of LAURENCE... it's made me so mad already!!!!