With a forecast of 7°C reduced to 3°C by northerly wind chill plus the chance of some rain I was wary of getting too cold again as had happened at Milton Keynes a couple of weeks back. Also the memory of last time I did the Banbury 15 in 2009, almost as cold as MK, still lingered. So I decided to wear tights, shorts, compression top, gloves and vest risking getting a bit warm but hopefully avoiding frozen misery. It was indeed chilly at the start so I was quite smug as I watched the undressed wasting energy they’d be wanting later running round the field trying to stay warm.
I was hoping to finish in 2:10, not very ambitious sounding but it was a hilly course and the furthest I’d run for a long while. My only other 15 miler was this race in 2009 when I’d suffered the last few miles and taken 2:22 so I would be very disappointed not to get a PB. So the plan was an average 8:40 mile/minute pace – a bit faster on the flat to allow for the slower ups. Few formalities, a white start line across the field which I at first tried to line up at facing the wrong direction as no one else was waiting 5 minutes before the start, a couple of words from the officials and we were off.
The first couple of miles were quite narrow path and pavement and keeping my pace was easy. Then we turned onto lanes and started to climb but I was expecting this so slowed a bit. Up through Little Bourton then Great Bourton then we got some time back descending into Cropredy where water was on offer. Around mile 5 we passed the junction where we would later rejoin the road to retrace to the finish but first a lesser climb or two then, around mile 8, after crossing the Oxford Canal and some other water, a short but steep haul which I could have walked up quicker but ran non-the-less.
We changed direction somewhere around here and were rewarded with a welcome tailwind. I knew we had to climb back over the Bourton hill though and my target time was looking a bit optimistic, after all I was pretty certain to start tiring and slowing soon. It didn’t help that I’d gained a 10th of a mile somewhere according to my Garmin. I had a gel just before the mile 11 water station and tried to keep the pace up. The hill didn’t seem to go on as long reproached from the north though it was a bit steeper giving me my slowest mile at 9:30 m/m.
Two and a bit miles to go, much of it downhill, I was glad to find my thighs still loose enough to let go on the descent giving me an 8 minute mile to compensate. A rather steamy factory I recognised to be near the start looked not far away. Target time seemed just within reach now and I had an idea that we were going to get some of that over-distance back at a road crossing near the end. Retrace down the footpath next to a busy A road and into Banbury, I tried to keep the pace up though things had flattened out. Back onto the narrow paths by a waterway, not at all crowded this time but the odd supporter giving cheer.
Into the park and over the finish line where my Garmin read 2:09 something – the results later giving 2:10:04 210th of 303 runners so good enough for me. My first run over the half marathon distance for over a year I think and a bit of a boost in confidence for longer runs coming up on my way to the Milton Keynes Marathon.
