up the traffic it actually felt like a closed road race with the occasional car coming the opposite direction and from behind.
my plan for what is was worth was to stick to 8 min mile pace for a 1.45 finish. please don’t ask me to pace you in a race as i cannot pace myself and after the first two miles was at 7.20 min. my usual strategy of slowly picking people worked as i continued at the same pace.
one by one the miles were ticked off until the relief of the 12 mile marker was in sight. only 1 and a bit to go. as we headed back down 