Having disappointed myself with my "race pace" run at 11k last month, I thought I'd give myself the best possible chance to get back on track with this month's 12k effort, so instead of a pleasant trip through the countryside somewhere I settled for six lengths of a 2k stretch of Southsea prom, which is itself pleasant if you're gazing out to sea, but a bit monotonous if you're focused mostly on the paving slabs 50m ahead of you 
.
Whatever, it worked 
, and I churned out the lengths with the 1k splits all between 5'21" (k1 and k12) and 5'31" (k7) to give a total time of 65 minutes (64'59.8" according to Garmin, but who's counting?) at an average pace of 5'25"/k.
Can't pretend I took as much joy from the run itself as the poets among you seem to muster in the most horrendous circumstances 
, but eeh bah gum I'm happy with the outcome . The last couple of k were hard (our super-carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth could have sailed past and I wouldn't have noticed), but I'm still hopeful I can add another 4k at around this pace and sneak in under 1 hour 30 come the Great South in October.
Onwards and upwards!!
Going backwards
...... and stretch.
