Rose Inn 4 Miler # 2 2010

Coming back to the Rose for race 2 I felt a little tired but otherwise in good shape. I think I was suffering from the memory of race 1 when I made a titanic effort to get a lifetime PB - the memory of how hard it had felt was fresh in my mind and making me nervous! I had a good, long warmup though and all felt fine when I joined the merry bunch at the start on another still and warm evening.

The first mile unwound simply enough - brisk but controlled - and the mile time came up as it seems to in all my short races at around 5.45. So far, on schedule for another good (for me) time. Turning the corner, the breeze was tame just like in race 1, and I was enjoying the air and sunlight through a kind of haze of sweat and heavy breathing. The lap time was around 11.50 so I knew I could maybe match my PB of a few weeks ealier if I could give it everything, but everything just didn't seem to want to come out.

Seems like race 1 was one of those once-a-year performances. I held my pace ok on the second lap, passed a few runners, got passed, managed a sprint for the line but unlike last time I was not right on the limit of my capacity - still, it was the best I had in me on the night and 23.43 is still a reasonable result. No complaints! Now my target is to get all 4 races in sub 23.45 which would be a strong performance for me - I only hope they don't get progressively slower, which would be a real bummer!

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