Gosport half, 2019

Ideal conditions today - cool, calm and gentle sunshine.  But it was a properly cold dawn, and the lovely Mrs S and I set off with multiple layers in the car.  We arrived at Gosport in good time and the whole parking business was remarkably easy.  We collected our race numbers and had fun hanging out with friends from Romsey, OS and the Hares.

The Romsey gang at the start

Here comes the Hares

We had a comedy moment at the start when the mayor told us to go at the sounding of the horse... and then we were off.  I was next to Alex Prinsep, but I quickly lost him and tried to settle into a sensible pace.  I did the first couple of kms in the low 3:40s - slightly on the quick side, but I was feeling OK.  It was a glorious day, and I was glad of my decision just before the start to ditch my long-sleeved base layer.

Me, Gerry and a sunbeam at the end of lap 1

I finished lap 1 in almost exactly 40 mins, and I was working hard.  I knew it would be hard work to match that and go sub 1:20, which was my ultimate goal.  In any case, I was hoping to beat this year's Bath time of 1:20:33.  My km pacing was now in the low 3:50s and I was struggling to improve on that.

Past the turn on the second lap, only 5km to go and there was a sense of the ante being upped a few notches.  A few well-paced runners glided past me, and in turn I caught a few faders.  And then with about a mile to go, there was Alex on my shoulder.  He beat me to it at Salisbury this year, and I wasn't going down without a fight.  Those final minutes were going to be hard work.

It was a blinder of a finish.  1km to go, then a 400m to go sign... each of us kept pushing a little harder, and we were absolutely level.  There was the finish gantry and it was now a full-on sprint.  I couldn't shake him.  Was he edging forward?  Not if I could help it.  We both heaved over the line and neither of us could speak for a bit.

Photo finish!

Mrs S took a photo of the finish and Alex looks like he's ahead, but the results put me in front on both gun and chip times by a second.  I don't really understand that... but for me this was a thrilling, exhilarating draw.  My chip time was 1:20:41, 8 seconds slower than Bath.  I maybe could have paced it better, but I had had such a cracking race at the finish that I really didn't mind at all.  Here are my stats and here's the flybe movie of the Prinsep-Stileman chase!

Done for!

Romsey survivors

The lovely Mrs S and her Hares