By Rod Lopez

This past weekend I did my first race as a build up for the London marathon. It was the Maxifuel Half marathon at Dorney Lake, near Windsor, where the Olympic rowing will take place in the summer. The event is well organised and quite small with just over 300 runners this year and the course has great PB potential as it is very very flat, consisting basically of four laps around the lake.

My training for the marathon has been going relatively well with all key sessions being completed and I have also been dieting since mid-January and have now lost nearly 9 pounds (4kg). Another bonus is that my 3 month-old daughter started sleeping through the night recently so I have been getting good quality sleep too. My left calf has been giving me a bit of trouble but I had physio treatment  on the Wednesday prior to the race. Needless to say I had high hopes for it.

My plan was simple, to average 6:50 till mile 10 and then see what I had left then. I got there early, registered, did all my pre-race routine, the weather was gorgeous, sunny and little wind. We set off and I resisted the urge to start too fast and worked my splits to military precision, as I wanted I was averaging 6:50 by 10miles. After that I could feel fatigue but worked hard and managed some negative splits with 6:43, 6:48, 6:46 and the remainder at 5:50.

I absolutely gave it all I had and I officially crossed the line with 1:30:03. I was very annoyed that I didn't get an official sub1:30 to my name. Garmin says I averaged 6:49 but I also says I ran 13.21miles. Annoyed as I can be with those 3sec and my Garmin, it was all positives from the race and I got a 2min PB (my first with the club's vest). Looking through the names of the first finishers I am pretty sure I was the fastest Brazilian again. Bring on the London marathon.