Black Mountain Side

Hills... hills... and more hills; and I thought Hastings was going to be bad!

Wasn't sure how this one was going to go as I deliberately hadn't tapered down as I felt this was a training run and I'd trained pretty hard in the last two weeks. Having run 7 miles with my good friend Dr Phil through the lanes of Hitchin yesterday this was going to push up my weekend mileage to 20 miles, which is good for the marathon but perhaps not for my half marathon PB!
I also seem to have pulled a muscle a bit in my right leg, nothing too serious but I can feel a nagging pain there.
This was a great run and through some beautiful countryside; if one was able to stop and appreciate the surroundings it really would be very pleasant, as it is one just groans as yet another hill approaches!
A strange race in some ways - there was also a 5 mile fun run, which started just before the half marathon and then apparently (according to my correspondents on the spot) stuffed up the half marathon front runners! Certainly by the time I got there, there were still a fair few fun runners to trip over.
I really didn't think I could keep my PB on this one as it seemed so hilly and the morning seemed so cold and icy but I managed to 'dig deep' and also had the support of my comrades James and Gary (Gary had come all the way from Edinburgh).
So... how did it go? Here's the times - the annoying thing is that there was no mile 1 marker, which really threw me - so miles 1 and 2: 14.26 (so 7.13 each, I guess); mile 3: 8.24 (hills!); mile 4: 7.50; mile 5: 7.20; mile 6: 7.11; mile 7: 7.57; mile 8: 8.28; mile 9: 7.44; mile 10: 7.56; mile 11: 7.37; mile 12: 7.55; mile 13: 6.45 (I could see my PB slipping away; I was practically sprinting for the finish by this point!) 0.1 of a mile: 0.50 - Final time: 1 hour 40 minutes, made it! Kept the PB I had set at Watford and on a much harder course and not feeling as good as I did at Watford so really pleased. Hastings beckons... and that's a mountain!
Thanks again to Gary and James for turning out in support and thanks to Matt for the running kit.