Well last night was my first race after London and it couldn't have been more different!  To start with it was a 4 mile trail race round farm tracks and paths through a park.  Secondly there were only 66 runners in the race  and finally it was cold, wet and muddy!!

Wasn't sure what to expect for a short fast race after all the long steady mileage for the marathon and Louise (who finished FLM in 4:03) and I were freezing before the start in the heavy rain!

For the first 400m I was in the top ten places quickly realising that I'd gone too fast but it felt good - for the next mile I hurt and dropped back down the field as the serious runners took over!  My garmin was playing up as it said the first mile was 7:39 and the second 9:51 but I knew I was running quicker than that!

Around half way going through the park and climbing a tough hill I was hurting but on glancing back at a turn I saw Louise not too far back and realised that if I wasn't careful she would catch me (one of these days she'll beat me I know, she just needs to feel confident and go for it!)

We turned just after the 4km mark which I passed in 19 mins and then after a few hundred metres we began the last 2k which was all downhill!! I did the next 1k in 4 mins and was picking up pace as I love downhill running.  Caught a runner about 1k from home and reached the 6k mark in 26:55, pushed onto the finish in 28:03 feeling wet but happy with a good run. Louise came home as third lady in 28:46 and picked up a bottle of wine as her prize - well done Lou!

I realsie that if I'm going to set good times at 10k - Half marathon I need to do more faster short runs so more of these short fast races will be on the schedule to help with the speed!