M's Masters' Medal

What another fine running weekend it's been. First of all a morning trip to the track yesterday resulted in another great quality speed session in the bank for me; 6x800m at a good lick saw me running faster than ever despite the blustery conditions. M was stand-in coach and was conscientious and dedicated in his whistle blowing to keep me even paced through the effort. The speedy strategy is working well; my recovery run later in the day saw my old lady legs turning over quicker than ever, if only my lungs could keep up!

Today was M's last day of racing for a few weeks; a team effort in the British Masters 5k Champs at Horwich. Though not a race he'd planned for it was one he was happy to turn out for to complete the Bingley Men's V40 team. The event is a blistering three lapper around Horwich town centre including a not-so-nice hill, painfully situated at each lap end, including the final run into the finish. The course is fairly tough, particularly on a warm day but M ran strong despite the challenges of the course. Close rivals for the team prize were Salford, another strong road club with a killer V40 team. 

The Bingley boys ran strong with Andy Peace finishing first in 16.02 closely followed by Stewart MacDonald in 16.13 , Simon Johnson in 17.08 and M in a fine time of 17.17. All four Bingley boys made up the prize winning Bingley team, finishing second V40 team and swooping silver medals. M's form held well and suggests a sub-17 on a flat course is well within his grasp so watch this space! Many other fine performances were had on the day and after all the excitement I'm off out to do my long run now; I hope to be back before dark...