Hartlepool Marina 5 mile

The day before the race I had to remove all the heavy duty flag stones from my driveway, sixty in total. I carried out the work steadily as I wanted to be in good shape for the Hartlepool Marina 5 mile which I always enjoy running. The course is flat but it always seems a little windy but non the less a good course for breaking your 5 mile P.B. so I felt if I could get to the start line in full health a chance of beating my 25 minutes 08 seconds time would be on.
The day of the race my hamstrings were slightly stiff but on my warm up run they didn't seem to be effecting me at all, just the usual pre-race tension and the thought of this is going to hurt feeling to deal with before the starters gun or should I say cannon. The cannon blasted for the start of the race which must of caught a few runners off guard as they ducked at the thought of an incoming missile. Ricky Stevenson from New Marske Harriers made his intentions known from the start and shot off down the road at a pace I have never seen before. Coming up to the mile marker I was thinking I don't feel great today and seem to be making hard work of it but then going through the first mile in 4 minutes 39 seconds I soon realised why it seemed hard work, Stevenson at this point was way ahead. Myself it was now a race for second and Andy Wiles also from New Marske who beat me the week before was also wanting the second position place badly. Wiles paced us out Hard to the turn just before three miles and then I took over as I wanted to get under the 25 minute barrier. The time was now more important than position and I pressed on in the hope Wiles would crack, I couldn't risk putting in a hard attack and ruining my chance of a good time so I opted to keep the pace hard all the way to the finish in the hope of preventing Wiles from out sprinting me. Unfortunately Wiles out sprinted me to the line in the final twenty metres for second place, It wasn't a case of being out sprinted at the finish, it was a race for the whole five miles and I loved every minute of it. Myself I finished third in a new P.B. time of twenty five minutes and five seconds just six seconds off the magical sub 25 minute barrier. Stevenson beat the magical sub 25 minute barrier and the unbelievable 24 minute barrier and almost beat the super human 23 minute barrier in a time of 23 minutes 22 seconds.
That's it now with racing for a few weeks as I return back to Marathon Training. More mileage, more speed and more power will be the aim. I have knocked a handful of seconds off a few P.B.'s but my target is to smash them not just crack them, still over the moon non the less. Oh ! I did manage to test out all the gear I will be wearing for this years marathon, everything feels just right.