2015 and all that

Rather belatedly, let's take a look back at the year gone and on to the year ahead.

Here's how my ambitions for 2015 panned out:

• Top 10 position in this winter's XC league - I still haven't found a way back into the leagues... this one is ongoing

• Top 40 place in the Grizzly - didn't happen in 2015, but this is my first big target for 2016

• Top 20 in the RR10 - I was 24th, but held on to 3rd M40 position

• Top 3 in Clarendon marathon - family events precluded Clarendon last year. I did the New Forest marathon instead and finished 11th (in a rather complicated way), 3rd M40

• Southampton parkrun sub 18:00 - not yet... but I have clocked up 18:10

• Eastleigh parkrun sub 18:35 - smashed it with a fabulous 18:22

• 10 miles in under 60 minutes - maybe one day? But I had a zinger of a New Forest Stinger

This year I'm looking forward to:

• Berkhamsted half marathon and the Grizzly in March... the BMH is an unknown quantity... Let's aim for top 5 M40.  Top 40 in the Grizzly would be terrific

• Southampton half marathon in April - would love to go sub 1:25...

• The RR10s - try to hang on to top 3 M40

• Clarendon marathon - top 3 overall or 1st M40 - can't to be back to form on this

• Cross-country season - would love to get back into it, either via Romsey or OS

The first step is getting some long-distance training underway, which is not the easiest thing with low daylight levels.  I'm planning my first run commute to work this week.

Romsey 5, 2016

My first race of 2016! I ran the Romsey 5 (nothing to do with Romsey Road Runners) back in the early 2000s, but not at its current venue in Broadlands estate, which is very flat, and mostly Tarmac surfaces.  Because of this it attracts fast runners and PB hunters from miles around.  This is not generally my favourite race set up, but it's great to blast out on a quick course every now and again... and I was quite curious to see what I could do 5 miles in.  My most recent reference was the Romsey Beer Race in 2013, where I clocked up 29:45 on an undulating road course.

There were plenty of familiar faces at the start.  It was a damp, mild morning with minimal wind - perfect.  The front runners set off at a cracking pace and I had to concentrate hard to keep steady.  It was mentally quite tough on the initial laps to keep focused.  I passed Rob Finch quite early on and kept almost level pegging with Cath Bailey for most of the route.

At the 3-mile mark I had clocked up 17:20, which was very respectable, but I was right at the top of my threshold.  The final 2 miles was a loop up and back again, during which I got to see the front runners absolutely stonking it.  Into the final mile - Cath and I kept edging ahead of each other but as we came into the final straight I pulled ahead of both her and another lady runner and did my best impression of a charge for home.

And then Rob and another guy came whizzing past me.  I had nothing left, and they breezed into the finish just ahead of me.  How infuriating - but I'm really pleased for a Rob, who has improved remarkably in recent weeks and months.

Here are the results - I came home in 29:16, which I'm really pleased with - but I'm hugely chuffed to have broken the 80-point age-grade barrier for the first time, making this on paper my best ever age-graded race.  A super race and an excellent start to the year.