With the venue at the southern end of Buckinghamshire and me located at the northern end or Milton Keynes to be precise, there was no direct public transport available. Rather than having to start my journey on a coach at 550am for the short journey to Leighton Buzzard, it was more convenient to cycle from home at 6.30am to Aylesbury, a distance of about 20 miles where I would take the train to Beaconsfield followed by a further 6 miles to the venue. Would I hit the wall during the latter part of the half marathon? I arrived with about 30 mins to go.
Immediately starting the event I was feeling tired and was fearing the worst but the 2-lap course was fairly flat for the first 4-5 miles. With a large field I was soon able to put my aches to the back of my mind and was even overtaking runners. The last two miles of each lap are tough with a number of climbs. I was expecting to hit the wall in the last few miles especially with the hills towards the end but surprisingly it never happened. The training over the past month had obviously come to my aid. Entering the school again where we started, there was a long run around the perimeter. When the clock came into view I was again surprised to see it approaching 1.37. My chip time turned out to be 1.36.42!
Laurence Klein was also running and finished in 2.05, a good time for Laurence.
After a long break and seeing the last runner finish in an almost deserted school I decided to cycle around the Burnham Beeches again as a reminder before heading back to Beaconsfield and the tiring journey home.
Regards
Peter Simpson