Worcester half marathon, 2025

This was my fourth attempt to get through the EA Masters qualifier, and my first road half since Tatton nearly two years ago. Training had gone well; I'd spent the summer upping my distances and thoroughly benefiting from Lordshill coaching and endurance sessions. The journey had been as it should be; hard, satisfying and enjoyable. The knee niggle that had developed at the start of the week had gone, and I was feeling good.

     
Worcester is cool and quirky

Sue and I had spent the day before exploring Worcester, so I had a reasonable familiarity with its geography. The start line felt relaxed and friendly. I had an enjoyable chat with the only other M55-er I could find, a geordie called David who said he was hoping for 1:20. Yikes, that's probably out of reach.

Steady steady for the off. I felt light as air and struggled to hold the pace for the first km back to 3:50. We crossed the river, swept around the university campus, and then back again to the east side and around the race course. It was calm and peaceful out there and I tried to concentrate on maintaining good form.

Passing the halfway market, the race changed. We were into the city centre, taking multiple twists and turns, with plenty of two-way stretches (an opportunity to admire the pace of the vanguard) and loads of crowd support and music playing. It was great fun, but over this section the largely flat course was punctuated with plenty of little inclines which were testing. As I started to feel fatigued I offered up some gratitude for the sheer privilege and joy of doing one of the things I love best, and there was Sue shouting and waving.

On to the river promenade, and I was focused on the bridge in the distance, forgetting that there was a complicated bit of chicanery around the docks first. I was feeling fatigued now (for me, it's about enduring the difficult teenage kms) but I was palpably catching people and I felt in control. Cross the river, 2km to go, and I'm passing more runners, some of them audibly on their uppers. Then the final bridge and the approach to the finish, which is all a bit of a blur.

My chip time was 1:23:15. I felt the race had gone as well as I could have hoped for and that was absolutely enough. Here are my stats. Had I got the top 3 M55 position that I needed? It took a while to figure this out, The answer was no, not this time I was fifth, well behind David who had got his fifth and nearly eight minutes behind first and second, who had knocked insane 75-minute times.

Chasing the elusive England shirt is a terrific adventure. The quest continues. I'll get there.

Totton 10k, 2025

This is a new-ish local race which is now part of the Hampshire Road Race League. Lots of local runners were taking part, so it seemed like an obvious candidate. Two weeks ahead of forth attempt to make the EA Masters grade in Worcester, it was also a good tune-up / check-in opportunity.

The carpark was a fair way from the race HQ, so by the time I'd jogged there, got my number and been through the portaloo queue there wasn't much time left to get to the start. With a field of over 600 it was a busy affair. I found myself next to David Shepherd waiting for the gun.

It was a breezy downhill start, then a series of left turns on a two-lap anticlockwise course. The undulations made it interesting - nothing very steep or arduous, but enough to give it some texture. I was enjoying myself slowly reeling people in. I went past Andy Parkinson, who has been my mortal rival in the RR10s again this year (he's been one M55 place ahead of me every time) and the thought of him sticking behind me was motivation to keep the pressure on.

I finished spent, but satisfied. My pacing and overall competitiveness has been good. The chip time of 39:07 wasn't spectacular, but that's a secondary consideration. Although I was 7th in the M50 category I was unofficially 1st M55, which I'll gladly take. Here are my stats.

Reassuringly grim