The best laid plans.....

The Fleet half marathon turned out to be  a big disappointment to both myself and daughter Sally, neither of us getting  anywhere near our expected times.

The trip down south started well enough  but traffic problems on the M25 turned the journey into a nearly 11 hour ordeal reaching Brighton late in the afternoon, just in time to change and meet son Eden off the London commuter train for a six mile run home, followed after a few hours sleep by a 9.5 mile run.

So far so good, until the next morning when a foot injury that had not  manifested itself the night before made even walking extremely  painful.  Not very encouraging with the Fleet half only four days away.  Intensive treatment  - lots of Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation - had the swelling reduced and most of the pain gone and strapping to the foot completed the preparation. The only explanation  for the injury could be the change to a new pair of shoes, barely broken in for   training, let alone racing. It was back to the old, worn shoes for the event.

With no running for three days prior to the race expectations of a good run had diminished and the weather forecast of high temperatures was further bad news.

Sunday dawned  with clear skies and hardly a breath of wind. From the gun there was nothing in the legs and as the heat built the mile times got slower and slower taking me to the finishing line in 2.02.03 (chip 2.01.12) by far the slowest time ever in a half marathon. That put me in third place over 70, miles (literally) behind the winner and 1500th out of 2445 finishers.

Sally trundled round in  2.48.29 (chip 2.45.38) and finished with a broad smile on her face in 2409th place.