Mo Farah commands respect......at last!

 
I wrote on the blog after the European T.& F. championships recently that Mo Farah would command the utmost respect if he was to break Dave Moorcroft's UK  5K track record which has stood since  1982.   If like us you missed the BBC 3 programme (can you believe we watched boring Liverpool!!)   you may not know that Mo ran 12:57.94 in the Zurich Diamond League meeting to become the 1st Briton to run under 13 minutes.   Just watched the last lap on YouTube. Well done to him!
  Finishing in 3rd place, 2 places ahead of Mo, Chris Solinsky of U.S.A. proved that the African athletes can be challenged. Solinsky ran 12:56.45.  To prove the point 9 Kenyans finished behind Mo and Chris.



No records for me today but at least I did manage to give myself a kick up the butt and inject some pace into my running for the first time since last Saturday's race.  Of the 24 miles run  Monday to Thursday only a couple have been below 9 mins pace compared to the 6.50 of the race.  
 So today I thought it was time to "up the ante".   The phrase implies an element of risk; true because I honestly didn't know if I could hit the target which should have been a reasonable one. Namely  4 miles at 7.30 pace.  Target 30.00 minutes.

 What a day today.  One minute pouring down. Next bright sunshine and oh! so humid.  Add a blustery wind and the going was tough.  Opted for the canal for the tempo run.   Not the weekend...so nice and quiet.
 Couple of miles at 9.30 and 9.00 to warm up,  then off......7.33 for the first mile ....the second 7.33.....6 seconds of target.  Turn.
    7.30 for the 3rd mile. 8 seconds down.  Kept pushing ...last mile ...7.17......29.55....5 seconds inside target.  Less than a minute slower than last year's Arncliffe race.  Not bad then for a solo effort.  Can't remember the last time I trained with someone else.
   I do occasionally see other runners training late morning; usually alone or occasionally in pairs around the res.  But it is not unusual to be confronted on a narrow country lane late morning  in the middle of the week
by a group compromising of a couple of dozen cyclists.  Are cyclists more likely to be more unemployed than runners or is cycling just a more sociable sport than running?  You tell me.
   Have a great weekend.  If you are racing...........have a good one!