Shakespeare Half Marathon - 07 May 2006...

Distance: 13.1 miles

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
01:40:01

Finishing Position: 198
Number of finishers: 638
Putting me in the top: 31.0%

The event that started me running! Having entered this race in January, I was determined to get in shape, it wasn't until much later I'd decided to enter the Lincoln 10k, and after completing that [Lincoln] and feeling so good, I couldn't wait for this event!

Training continued and progressed reasonably, taking it slower at times for fear of shin splints returning. Long runs were obviously something new, and whilst the Lincoln 10k had taught me not to underestimate oneself in race conditions, I simply couldn't imagine myself beating the 1hr 50-55mins time zone after completing the course in training before the event had taken around 2hr 10mins (if I recall correctly!).

Again I surprised myself massively, though I could certainly feel I'd pushed myself! I could barely walk the next day, and was even worse the day after; my first ever experience of DOMS! (delayed onset muscle soreness). Finishing top 200 was fantastic and only 5 minutes behind my good friend Howard Lancashire, whom I was expecting to finish a good 20mins behind!