This weekend is all about Liverpool and the Flora Half Marathon. Last year I ran Silverstone – expecting it to be quite exciting to run the track and cover the same ground that F1 drivers cover in 2 minutes, albeit in 2 hours. The reality was a staggeringly cold trot that seemed to involve more time traipsing across dirt paths than it did on the tarmac. It wasn’t fun. So I’ve signed up for a city run where at least there’ll be stuff to look at, maybe even interesting stuff. I’m no expert on Liverpool – the last time I spent any serious time there I was probably 2 years old. But the route map looks good – it’s a simple out and back with a slope down on the way out and therefore a tough climb on the way back, but it can’t be as bad as the Great North Run (only the Snowdon Marathon could be that bad I suspect).
I’m looking for a time of about 1h 55 or so – not too fast, but just to get used to the pace of things again. I expect to be dodging back and forth between people which doesn’t make for fast running. I also expect to be cold, it being grim up north, and that doesn’t make running fast any easier. I’ve just been out for this run in London – it was 3 degrees C here.
This is a quick run – two loops of about 6.1 – 6.2 km. I’m using it to test out how much I slow down lap to lap. It’s dull running the same loop over and over, but I’ve just finished listening to the “Camel Club” by David Baldacci and have started “The Broker” by John Grisham. I’ll be listening to that during the Liverpool run I suspect.
