After the miserable weather of yesterday it was great to peer out the curtains this morning to see a bright, dry, still morning. It was an early start - my daughter and I were running the ~3km Green Park Challenge at 8.30am. If I thought battling through the masses in the half marathon would be 'challenging' that was nothing compared to dodging dozens of ten year olds! I was very proud of my 9 year old - she's never going to run at a great speed (rather like her Dad) but she kept going at a good steady pace and crossed the line in ~18m 45s.

So with my warm up complete I turned my attention to the HM. Reading has always been a big event but I felt it had ramped up another level this year - it felt like there were more runners (it'll be interesting to see how many finished), more spectators (creating a great atmosphere all the way round), more people in the stadium at the end. Issuing 'coloured' numbers seems to work well - there seem far fewer people lining up in the wrong places than there were a few years ago which makes for an easier first few miles.

But <grumpy old man mode on> I do get a bit fed up with those folks who put on their headphones and become totally oblivious to everyone else about them. Personally I can't understand why you would want to block out the great atmosphere and the banter with other runners, but if that is an individuals choice then surely it's not unreasonable to expect such folks to compensate for the fact that they can't hear what's about them by being more visually vigilant. On several occasions I was cut up by, and once stumbled over, folks lost in their little iPod worlds <grumpy old man mode off>

But that didn't spoil my morning. It was my 25th HM and my 2nd fastest time (1:31:06 - I haven't got a clue how I managed my best - 1:28:45 at Reading last year). Afterwards I strolled back along the A33 to the town centre giving those continuing to run a cheer and clap - realising about half way along that I still had my medal around my neck (did the medal remind anyone else of a certain age of a 'Jim'll Fix It badge'?) which maybe wasn't very kind for those folks who still had 2.5 miles to go - sorry if it was you .

So a big congratulations to everyone who 'ran Reading' this morning - hope you achieved your goals - and to the organisers and marshalls who kept everything running like clockwork