I had been avidly checking the weather forecast for the last week, and the forecast had been for a little rain - sounds nice, I thought, not too warm. On the day, however, it was sunny and very very windy! Hardly ideal, especially as Cardiff Bay is very exposed!
I left Mr Taffi looking after Monkey1 and Monkey2, and caught the train down to the bay, registered, grabbed a quick Milkybar treat to top up breakfast, and waited to start.
I was calm and collected, kept everything I could identical to my training runs - water bottle, audio book, Garmin watch...
I set up my watch to beep if I was slower than 10min miling and beep if faster than 9min miling, and determined to keep within these boundaries as much as possible, not to set off too fast, not to care as everyone raced off at the beginning (Mr Taffi says you overtake loads who burnout by starting off too fast if you are wise at the start) and to keep to my plan.
First 2 miles - great, had about 1 1/2 minutes in the bag by averaging about 9 1/2 minute miles. The 3rd and 4th miles were slower because of the wind, and mile 5 a lot slower as the barrage was so exposed...
...but I crossed the finish in 49mins11secs (chiptime says 49:24, not sure why). I'm so pleased with the time, to have broken the 50min barrier, and in the knowledge that in perfect conditions I could run faster again!
Analysing my race, I can clearly see the influence of the wind! (this is an overlay of several screengrabs in Sporttracks...)
Every time I turn into the wind my pace slows!! You can also see a gradual slowing in my pace throughout the race, in part tiredness, in part indicating the exposure of the second half of the race.
But all in all, a stunning place for a race, and one that I will enter again...(though crossing fingers firmly for a less windy day!)
And my reward...
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