The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

I ran this race once before, but in very different circumstances. The last time I tackled it was in 2004, it was my very first half marathon and I'd taken the training very seriously indeed. I've never been that well prepared for any subsequent half and have nearly always ended making excuses to explain my slowness! I'm afraid their will be similar comments being made here. I was doing really well with the initial training for this race, so much so that I was up to 13 miles about a month and a half a go and thought I was on course for a good race. I was even harbouring secret hopes of a PB. That wasn't excatly what happened! Unfortunately I wasn't very well at all towards the end of April, to the extent that I didn't even go to the Skipton Triathlon. I had been intending to go and looking forward to it because it was a race that I enjoyed last year. I simply couldn't do it, I was having enough trouble getting through a day without doing that. Anyway, that brought me to today, having not run a step in about the last three weeks. Oops! Not a good start.

Right. So, you've got the extenuating circumstances, now here comes the race report. I went to this one minus my photographer, so I'm afraid you'll just have to put up with me waffling on and no pictures to break it up. I was in Millennium Square in plenty of time, milling around and wondering what on earth I was doing there. I felt really nervous, justifiably so given the reasons already mentioned. I joined in the aerobic warm up, as much to keep my mind off the impending start as anything else. It was quite good fun though. Then we were slowly wandering our way to the start area - where I was sensibly trying to line myself up somewhere near the back.

I was very glad it was a chip race as it took about 2 minutes to actually get to the start line - while I knew I wouldn't be fast, I still wanted a true reflection of my time over the distance. I began running at the line and promised myself that I would just keep going no matter what. I was going to keep plodding on and get there, I was determined to prove to myself that I could do it. Do you know, I was amazed how many people were off in the bushes for a wee within about the first mile - there were plenty of toilets at the start. Maybe nerves were getting the better of people. Anyway, enough of that. I didn't feel great to begin with, my legs felt heavy and I was quite worried about how I was going to get on. It took about 4 miles for my legs to come back to me and for me to start feeling like I was running with any sort of rhythm!

Still, after that I had quite a long good patch. I was keeping a sensible pace and swapping places back and forth with the same people again and again. I was managing to keep it going up and down the hills and was feeling pretty good. The weather was okay and I was remembering to take a quick drink every ten minutes - my usual strategy, it just helps to break things up a bit. This continued until I was on the home straight, the great long straight from Kirkstall Abbey all the way into the city centre. After that things began to go down hill a little. I was starting to feel really very tired and was keeping it up by will power rather than anything else. By the time I reached the Headrow and knew I only really had to get around the corner I was about ready to cry. Strange to say now, but that little bit just seemed like it might be the bridge too far! I refused to give in, I didn't stop, I didn't walk, I dragged myself (without any tears in the end) over the line and slumped on a bench to remove my chip. Unsurprisingly, this didn't result in a good time. I completed the race in 1:23:13, considerably slower than my last attempt. Mind you, this time I was just pleased to have got around at all. There will be other days to be faster, this one was purely about mental strength... and I did it!