10:20am and Jess and I separated to take our positions at the men's and women's start lines and before long it was time to head off. Naturally we didn't begin running until about a minute after the starting gun sounded, but once we were underway the first thing was to find each other again through the sea of lycra tights, fluorescent running tops and sports watches. After 600 yards (548m) the two groups met up and the density of all these things increased. Thankfully we found each other and began running the 13.1 miles.
We both felt great for the first 3 miles as we wound through the suburban streets of Watford, waving at dedicated locals who took the walk down their drives to wave at the lunatics running down their street. It wasn't long before we ran into the leafy countryside and welcomed (ha!) the hills that we had heard so much about. Our strategy, being that the extent of our hill training was virtually nil, was to walk some of the hills in order to conserve energy. As it turned out, this lost us no time and we managed good split times throughout.
The course was it has to be said, quite hilly and these presented more problems on the down hill runs more than on the way up - pounding the knees and lower back. We both ended up a bit stiffer that normal after the race because of this. The down hill sections did however allow us to make up any time lost on the up hill walk/run and we reached the 10 mile mark at a time of approx 1:41:00 with for us is, and I've wanted to say this for a while, our PB for that distance. We continued this form to reach our previous longest distance of 11.5 miles in under 2:00:00. With a strong finish we crossed the line in 2:14:39 which for a pair of first timers, is something we are very pleased with. The event was really well organised by the Watford Harriers Running Club and while it was at times a little windy, the scenery was great and we both had a good first competition experience. Bring on the Marathon (in a bit). B
