Half Marathon Done!

The icy conditions this morning caused one casualty before we'd even set off.  Linda was due to cycle alongside us but came off her bike twice in the short distance between our homes - she was unhurt.  The rest of us decided to risk it, at a slower pace to try to avoid any further mishaps.
Having said we should do more hills, this half marathon route certainly provided them.  We kept a good steady pace even up the hills and I was feeling we'd done well at the six mile point when we stopped to gather up.  

However I was starting to get a real nagging pain in my butt!  The camber of the road was steep and the icy conditions meant we hadn't been swapping sides as we usually would, so I'd been running at an angle.  I stretched out and luckily that was the point where the route turned round so I got to lean to the other side!

Stretching!

Having done some of last week's run at marathon pace, we decided to do 2 miles at 10 minute/mile pace this week too.  That went well and we were all pleased with how we managed that - still being able to easily chat and cope with the hills.  We finished in 2hours 19minutes having run an average pace of 10:40min/mile. That'll do nicely!

There was an unplanned stop in the pub too!  The 22 days without alcohol had got too much for us and we were knocking on the door of the pub by 9am!  Thank you to the Meynell Ingram Arms for the use of their toilets.