Providing the dead wait until dropped like a stone

I was planning to go to Lockett's Rockets today, but Mark Westlake some how talked me into an easy run with him and Alan Ginn. Amanda (who sits next to me commented that she could see the fear in my eyes as I was talked around). Mark actually said "we won't drop you."

Plan was out to 3 bridges do that route and back. With the doctor's words still grating in my head 'you might need to ease off your training for a bit' and my leg aching straight away we set off.

Immediately Mark took the shortest routes dancing between the traffic in his spray-on non-chaffing black Lycra outfit and Alan responded by kicking again and again - so much for the sore back, evidently better then. My over training kicked in and lack of sleep was also slowing me down. The boys chatted away just in front and if the gap grew more than 10m or so they slowed to let me catch up. I really appreciated that. We crossed Westminster and entered the world of zero tourists, no joggers and speed. Only serious runners tend to get out here and one in a blue top came down the stairs at the same time as me opposite Big Ben. He tucked in behind me and was very close. Alan and Mark started to pull away and just after the first bridge he kicked and over took me. I responded and sat aggressively on his shoulder and we were close to bumping each other several times as trees and bus stops got in our way. Blue top dragged me to level with Alan and Mark who dutifully notched the pace up ever so slightly and we dropped blue top. Over the MI5 bridge and another challenge. Tri top goes past me and again I tuck in and keep with him for half a km until we catch Alan and Mark who open a space for me and we form a wall. Tri top is a big lad, but fast and goes past at pace just as we go back on the bottom part of the P. Alan and Mark have put some distance between themselves and me by the time I make it to the finish of the 3 bridges, by which time I am finished. The 2.3 miles were done in 15mins something, so 6:45 pace. Not blistering, but felt I was really working. Walked up the steps and jogged back. Took about a mile to recover and then back to a tempo like pace and finished strong to the office. 52:37 for the 6.4 miles which as a total is poor as not even touching the 10km pace I need except for the 2.3 mile section, even that would only just sneak in sub 42 for the 10km. Looking forwards to 3 days of recovery and then back in anger next week - hopefully a little fitter and a little faster.

Back at the office turns out Alan and Mark bumped into tri-top at the end of the run. He was not holding the pace he'd set when he over took us and Mark and Alan hammered the last section just for the fun of it.

Once again I am delighted these guys put up with me and my lack of speed. It was great to have them just ahead as it really makes a difference and forced me to put much more effort in than I would have done if I had been out on my own. Even the fast pace feels slow (which is good) and the slow pace feels excruciatingly slow so I am hoping there is a lot to come quickly as the Herts 10km is only 9 weeks away.