Two good, too windy.

The Hartlepool Marina 5 miler today was way too windy to go for a fast time so it was a case of going for the win. My rivals today were Ricky Stevenson, Andy Wiles, Jim Bulman and Russell Best. Stevenson is out of my league, so my main concern was revenge against Wiles who had easily beaten me earlier in the year on the track indoors. Jim Bulman is never far behind me and is determined as hell to tick me off on his hit list and I'm even more determined not to let him. From the gun Wiles took the lead, with Stevenson, Best and myself tucked in behind, with Bulman slightly behind us. It wasn't long before Wiles started to pull away taking Stevenson with him which left me to deal with Best and Bulman behind. The cross wind was really strong and preventing me from hammering it from the 2 mile point to the 3 mile point, I'm not sure why but I think I was playing it too cautious to make sure I took 3rd place. Just before doing a u-turn at 3 miles I started to put in some hard effort and managed to drop Best, Wiles and Stevenson where well ahead by now but Bulman wasn't far behind but seeing as my effort had seriously gone up I was sure I would increase my lead over Bulman. Even on the way back the cross wind was really effecting my running and I didn't seem to be flowing as easily as I normal do, probably a disadvantage of running on the treadmill instead of getting used to the wind by training outdoors. I continued with the hard effort down the home straight and finished in 3rd place in 26 minutes 27 seconds. Stevenson's winning time was 24:30 ish and Wiles 24:49 which in those conditions is absolutely top notch. Bulman finished 4th not far behind so shattered my theory of me increasing my lead over him over the last two miles.
Overall taking everything into account I would say I am slower than last year but this year I could of continued at the same pace for another 5 miles quite easily. Hopefully there will be less wind at Sheffield for the half marathon at the end of April so I can reassess my capabilities in time for the marathon.