The Milton Keynes half marathon (26 July) was likely to be as easier event for
me without the impact on performance due to the traveling by bike. The weather
turned out to be ideal with little wind except around the exposed Willen Lake
where we anticipate running into the wind. Apart from the late arriving Manuel
Corriente, we all met up fairly soon with new member Gideon Stanley meeting
members for the first time. Our line-up was arguably our strongest team for many
years with Manuel, Gideon & Keith aiming for sub-1.30 followed closely by Andy
Jordan and myself. We were not aware of the arrangements for team prizes but we
thought a high position was possible. We discovered after the event that owing
to the fact it was being organised by the NSPCC, to qualify for a team entry we
had to enter using a team form and specify the runners, the idea being to raise
more funds this way. Usually by your individual entry and specifying your club,
team entry is automatic without any extra overhead.

Despite the narrow start and cycleways, the early miles were likely to be fast
with the help of the long and slightly downhill section on the railway walk and
in an easterly direction towards Newport Pagnell. I appeared to be going
steadily and slowly moving up the field but like most, struggled a little into
the wind around Willen Lake. Given the forecast for increasing south-westerly
wind, I also assumed we would have to tackle the wind up to mile 8 when in fact
it was hardly noticable. Here we turned onto the Grand Union Canal towpath and
parallel leisure route which is rather uneven with bumps near the canal bridges.
I continued here to slowly move up the field and was somewhat relieved to leave
the canal behind approaching mile 11. Here I was surprised to pass Andy but
realised later that he had a high milage training period with his ultra race of
85 miles on the Ridgeway scheduled for 29 August.

I pushed on through Great Linford on the smoother cycling surface which led us
back onto the railway walk, picking up our earlier route back into Stantonbury,
passing the Milton Keynes Athletic Club track if anyone noticed. There was a bit
of an incline back into the Bury Lawn school where we looped back to the finish
on grass. I was pleased to see a sub- 1.35 on the clock, a further improvement
for 2009. Quickly met up again with Keith Hammond achieving yet another PB and
breaking 1.28 for the first time just by chip of 1.27.58 (61st), followed by
Gideon Stanley 1.29.49 (81st), Manuel Corriente 1.31.24 (100th), myself 1.34.22
(147th), Andy Jordan 1.36.51 (184th), Nik Windle 1.52.27 (538th) and Sharon
Hammond 2.22.22 (1089th). Many of the team stayed to see Nik & Sharon finish and
for a further round of photos. Nik & Sharon had the benefit, depending how they
view it, of further photos approaching the finish.

Regards
Peter