further notes on last weekend's running

[waider]

Just a few random things...

• The weather absolutely sucked, for a variety of reasons. First, it was cold. Second, it rained pretty hard about 10 minutes in. Third, there was a bit of wind whipping about after the rain.
• The wetness made the tarmac difficult to run on, as your back foot (what a strange use of that expression) kept slipping. On the way down the main road, I ran on the hard shoulder where there was a different and grippier surface. On the last mile, which ran in the opposite direction on another part of the same road, there were cars parked along the hard shoulder - just at a point where extra grip would have been useful, too.
• I misfired on starting my stopwatch, so I'm not exactly sure of my times, but it was something like 1st mile: 6:40, 2nd mile: missed the mile marker, 3rd mile: 19:something, 4th mile: 26:something, 5th mile (finish): 32:46
• I was really happy with the last mile. Usually I tend to pace myself assways, in that I start reasonably fast and gradually get slower, meaning that overall the time is good but I spend the end of the race being passed by people. This time, I sped up at the 4-mile marker, and kept the pace, even managing a little push at the end, and I think only one person passed me - and he was steaming into a sprint finish.
• Apologies to anyone at the finishing stretch: I was looking at the race clock and trying to get in under 33:00. It ticked over to 33:01 and I swore rather loudly. My final race clock time was 33:04.
• NO BLISTERS!!!! Actually, there was a very slight one on one foot that was so small I didn't notice it. Definitely an improvement on hobbling away from the finish line.
• I didn't try out the Adidas Footscan doohickey, since there was a queue for it before the race, and after the race I just wanted to get home. Maybe some other time.