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| Hot, pink and happy |
The Hackney Vitality Half Marathon, the first of its kind in our lovely city, was a triumph. Not exactly for me, although I think I may have shaved a few paltry seconds off my half-marathon PB, but for the borough. I have a soft spot for Hackney: I lived there in the late 1980s, before I went off to Sudan for a year. My best buddie Ruth lives there, just opposite London Fields Lido. She's currently in Ecuador, though, on a physical challenge of her own.
It was very hot. The route took us - about 12000 runners all told - around the streets of Homerton and Hackney Marshes, past Victoria Park, London Fields and out to the Olympic Park, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in punishing heat. I carried one salted caramel gel, by GU, which is just lovely and swallowed with pleasure at mile 7 or so, and picked out nifty little water pouches at the refreshment stations. I thought I was sticking to 8 minute miles quite nicely, but clearly I wasn't, or my finish time wouldn't have been a slightly disappointing 1:47.12 (dammit, 13 seconds faster and that would have looked better), but I was 8th in age group (out of 100). Siggy, whom I should have set off with, was 6th.
Still, this was another significant test on my year of training seriously. If I can get it down by 5 minutes or so, I shall be on course for April's big blog culmination.
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