The secret of my Amsterdam success

I was so not looking forward to running Amsterdam due to a number of injuries, niggles and general lethargy that I think, by default, I have cracked the art of this running lark.

Total apathy before and during the race seems to have worked. Before the start I was at the ubiquitous exhibition for about two hours and whilst taking my time to get changed, was totally relaxed. In fact I was yawning so often I thought I was about to fall asleep. A quick coffee 30 mins before the race, a run to the loo and then off to the start line.

With about 10 mins to go before the start I decided on my race strategy - if was to get anywhere near 1:45 then I had to get the first 10km out of the way in under 50 mins. That would put me at least in with a chance. Knowing that I had not done the training mean't that it was more than likely that come the 18-20 km mark I would have very little left in the tank and as such would be running on air.

And that is exactly what happened. A 47:12 min first 10km.

So the plan worked. As I flaked out towards the end (I ran the 20th km in 5:30) I knew that the start had given me the chance to get under 1:45 for the first time. So onto the next challenge. A sub 3:50 FLM 2007 (now that would be something!). But I suppose I had better get a place first before getting too excited.

As for Mrs. B - well, what a performance. Myself. KB and CB all thought she had come in the top 10 as we could not see any more than 8-9 women in front of her. However, we are talking female runners here and as such there must have been a few women who ran past us who, not to be too impolite, looked more like men. You see, that's what happens if you train too hard.....