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Manchester Half Marathon - 1:27:28 official. No PB but first in age-cat and lots of positives ...

Rain-drenched and a dead-flat course - couldn't be better conditions for a half. After my near-disaster at the English Half Marathon last month, I'd decided to take it a little easier for the first half of the race, and then try to ramp up towards the end to try and beat the 1:27:13 I did then. The first half went pretty much to plan - maybe still a tad too fast - but it felt like we were running slightly downhill all the time ... there was plenty in the tank, perhaps because of all the carb-loading I'd been doing the last couple of days. I didn't quite manage the acceleration I was looking for from mile 7 onwards but I was still in with a shout of a PB because I was keeping it all nice and steady. It was only when I came to the last mile that things began to drag a bit. It was a long straight run to the line and I thought I could see the finish - but it was another 250 yards further on, and as usual, those last few yards were the hardest of the race. I need to learn to finish better - the problem might be more in the head than in the legs. But getting to within 15 secs of the PB on a course that Garmin measures quite a big longer than the EHM, and above all, not feeling as though I'd run myself to the point of collapse this time - those are big positives. I'm pretty pleased with this performance.

Split Summary
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1) 1m - 6:39(6:39/m) 172/182bpm 120cal 9.01/9.33mph
2) 1m - 6:37(6:37/m) 177/184bpm 119cal 9.06/9.35mph
3) 1m - 6:30(6:30/m) 172/184bpm 115cal 9.22/9.43mph
4) 1m - 6:31(6:31/m) 147/152bpm 94cal 9.2/9.75mph
5) 1m - 6:38(6:38/m) 144/147bpm 93cal 9.05/9.37mph
6) 1m - 6:42(6:42/m) 142/148bpm 90cal 8.96/9.33mph
7) 1m - 6:37(6:37/m) 144/147bpm 93cal 9.06/9.14mph
8) 1m - 6:43(6:43/m) 144/148bpm 93cal 8.94/9.2mph
9) 1m - 6:49(6:49/m) 145/151bpm 94cal 8.8/9.25mph
10) 1m - 6:41(6:41/m) 148/161bpm 96cal 8.98/9.27mph
11) 1m - 6:28(6:28/m) 148/158bpm 91cal 9.27/9.75mph
12) 1m - 6:43(6:43/m) 140/151bpm 77cal 8.94/9.48mph
13) 1m - 6:39(6:39/m) 137/149bpm 65cal 9.02/9.16mph
14) 0.19m - 1:17(6:49/m) 137/143bpm 12cal 8.8/9.18mph