Don't Pass the Grass, Man

With the hamstring more or less behaving itself since the weekend's racing I decided to have one last 'British Effort' at lowering my 3k time at the Watford open meet. As it was my last 3k of the season I decided to go out a little bit quicker and, as last time, ignore my watch. Conditions were damp, windy but overall not too bad.

Unfortunately it appears that Buffalo Mozzarella flavoured crisps from the Walkers sensations range don't mix well with running, even when eaten more than 2 hours in advance of the race. My entire warm-up was dominated by the usual (and expected) frenzied backside activity and an unexpected fighting of the mushy crisp tide in the back of my throat.

As with most things it had all settled down once the race started, although you certainly wouldn't have wanted to race closely behind me at any point. I went through the mile in about 4:52 and raced well throughout, although I was slightly restricted by a side stitch for the last 2 laps. Unfortunately given the standard of the field I came 15th, a respectful 66 seconds behind the winner! Pretty happy with the final time of 9:10.92 and that will serve as a good, but not too testing, benchmark for next season.

Another rather pointless visit to the hospital in the afternoon for my asthma meant I walked away with a prescription for my grass allergy. I always wondered why I used to fall asleep at college when it was passed around and now I know why!