The Standard Chartered Great City Race 2009, London

I was a bit surprised to hear that I had gotten a sub 21-minute time last year. Of course I hadn't really, but nevertheless I had received a special pink sticker on my race number which enabled me to start at the front of this year's race. Suffice to say I felt special, and that was before the running had even started.

Any elitist feels was quickly quashed when the starting gun fired though. Today's race was a tough affair, both in terms of the conditions (lots of pinches/crowds) and my own physical state (I was pretty knackered). On the bright side, the weather held out for the race and cool-down, I got to meet friends participating in the event both in the bank and out and, of course, I got to competitively race (I missed this year's Roding yet again).

Thankfully my knee held out (it's been giving me problems since February). In fact I seemed to bottle out with my respiration rather than energy/muscle levels - further proof of just how unfit I'm becoming year on year.

My final booked time was 23:44, faster than last year but a result that took much more out of me. Competition in my adopted company has also heated up with my time now being the fourth fastest, but nevertheless it was good to see the group as a whole doing better than we did last year.