I finished the Winterthur Half Marathon in 2:33:25 which was quicker than planned - I was hoping for sub 2:40. I did get slower, but my splits were consistent and I had a few walking breaks. But I got round 13.1 miles in good shape and with a sprint finish.

As I suspected, I was right at the very back - I overtook 7 slower runners, but at times lost sight of the rest of the field. the marathon runners started 30mins earlier and did 2 laps. At kilometre 16 I lost sight of runners in front and was lapped by the lead marathoners :-)

But I just ran MY RACE following MY STRATEGY and when I couldn't see anyone else, I just thought - "IT's just a training run, you just want to run your 13 miles". And being alone at the back - you get fantastic support. Smiles. "Hopp Hopp" and swiss cow bells being run. I love Switzerland! And there were free leg massages at the end. Plus, there were a few lovely runners that helped me along!

And when I looked at my average speed later - it was 7:12 mins per kilometre. 3 weeks ago at the Berne 10 miler with my friend, we averaged 7:22 and I struggled the whole way round. So running alone, for 5k further and I managed to speed up!

The worst happened - I was pretty much last - but it was fine.
And my best banging track? "BIg Noise Remixed" by Paris Blue
https://play.spotify.com/track/6mgTsJpm6lQbhAvjUt7kiz



So, another @40challenge done and dusted. Half Marathon run, tick :-) Next race is Berne 10K where I want to run sub 01:05. Need ot work on my speed. And the word from my "running coach" aka my sports scientist work colleague - "Steigerung" ie Improvement. Each run should show some progress, either in time or distance.