I kick dust in the face of the 100 minute half marathon, whilst laughing in its face.

Well, almost. It took me 99 minutes and 6 seconds yesterday, but still, 100 minutes was my target and I'm happy I beat it. Results are online if there's any doubters.

Learning from our mistake last year, Tim (my brother) and I started further up the field and didn't get blocked in, which meant we could find a natural pace much earlier on. What followed was ten miles of trying to do our 7 and a 1/2 times table. 13 * 8 is 104 minutes, which is the time we did last year. 13 miles at 7.5 minutes  is 97.5. So, we knew our pace had to be somewhere between the two.

All was going well up to the 10 mile marker, which we passed at exactly 75 minutes. The last three miles were hard work though and we dropped down to 8 minute miles. At 12.5 miles I had to stop due to an agonising stitch, which I'm blaming on the Lucozade Sport drink I took on board half way round. Although I only stopped for a couple of seconds it meant Tim finished about 10 places ahead, which is a shame, as it broke our unspoken rule of always crossing the line together. We got each other round though. I find I can only push myself if somebody is running with me. I'm just too laid-back otherwise.

Today my body is a collection of aches and pains and I'm going to take the week off from running. Like a fool I've agreed to run another in mid-December. I must be mad.