Smug Shit Incorporated

There are PBs and there are PBs....and there are PBs. More precisely.....

The Wanks - most runners have a collection of awful PBs whose pathetic existence is attributable to the fact a distance is rarely raced, e.g. my half marathon time. The goal being to eliminate them to avoid the sheepish admittance of mediocrity when asked.

The Nostalgias - all but the youngest will also have a couple of untouchable PBs which, due to age or changing focus (or perhaps increased drug testing), will never be broken again such as my long jump or 100m time. The goal of these is to reflect on "how amazing I was", often knocking a chunk off your actual time in the telling. (Ah, the glory of a non-internet age).

The Fair Games - there are the PBs that you are neither ashamed of, nor incapable of and which form the basis of your existence. Blog rules state that when you knock one of those on your head you are allowed to gloat and also slip them into conversations as I did yesterday (although only when they naturally crop up):

Tescos Assistant: "Hello, do you have a club card?"
Me: "Did you say PB?"
Tescos Assistant: "What? I said clubcard"
Me: "Ah, yes. Sorry, I thought you were asking about the PB I broke today, knocking off over half a second my previous best."
Tescos Assistant: "That will be £3.50 please".

Bedford had the season's first BAL (British Athletics League) meet on Saturday down in Ashford, Kent. Conditions weren't ideal for me as I don't breathe very well in hot and humid weather - but on the flipside I was fairly well rested, nothing hurt and there was little wind. The trip down was far from ideal taking 3 and a half hours due to the Dartford Crossing travesty. A larger, more unjust toll booth operation I can't think of since the Japanese charged allied prisoners half their packed lunch to cross the River Kwai.

I'll also admit to considerable nerves heightened by the fact the A race was won in 1:53.00. The race itself went well, we proceeded spread out and in single file and I hung off the leaders for the first 300m before moving into third in the home straight. Once again I gave the leaders too much rope, but had got into a reasonable second down the far straight. Although a fair bit back I was pretty confident from 200m out as my legs felt great. As I closed up round the bend I knew my kick would be enough and I came home a second clear to knock over half a second off my 2001 PB to win in 1:56.03. Considering I could have gone for home earlier, the conditions and the fact I negative split (59.6 / 56.4) rather than the advised positive split I was delighted.

Beating one of your better PBs from years ago always feels as though you're regaining a bit of your youth. If I carry on like this I will be getting my star wars figures out of the loft.

Once again I got the 400m wrong - this time going out far too slowly. On the bright side I got the best position I was capable of (3rd, B string) and ran a better time of 51.47. It's still unacceptably slow but I have reasons to believe there is a lot more to come. I was feeling a bit sick by the relay where we did all we could but came 5th.

Considering 95% of the words that leave my mouth are aimed at complaining at something I'll hope you forgive my indulgence in this post for what many would regard as a very average time. No doubt the bitter old man will return shortly and normal business will be resumed.