June... my goodness how the time has flewn

[marathondan]

Well done for taking the plunge Charlie. I agree with MLCMM, don't obsess about times too much. I know you like to track pace to monitor your progress, and there's nothing wrong with that. But there will always be fast runs and slow runs, and you mustn't worry if one session comes in slow. I think you should just put in consistent effort over increasing distances, and then perhaps over the course of a month you will see an improvement in pace. But ultimately your pace will be what it will be: so long as you're putting in the miles at a good level of effort, there's not much more that you can do.

I should also mention the race day fairies. You won't believe in these till you experience them. But on race day, they will sit in your pocket, on your shoulder, tucked into your water belt, and will somehow make you run 30-60s per mile faster than you do in training. I don't know how they do it, but I think most here will vouch for their existence.