Brian

Brian the storm, not the snail from the Magic Roundabout.  Wonderful timing for Brian to hit the day before the Stroud Half Marathon though hitting on the day itself would have been worse as we'd have had rain as well as strong winds.  The worst of Brian should have passed by Sunday morning so it should be dry but it's still going to be quite windy - and cold.

The Met Office are currently forecasting westerly winds of 20 mph, with gusts up to 40mph.  The first two miles of the race route head pretty westerly from Stroud before turning north at Stonehouse.  The route then heads west again from miles 4 to 6.  Once we get to Whitminster just before mile 7 the course then heads east back to Stroud so we'll have the wind on our backs for the second half of the race.

The other thing about the weather is it's forecast to be quite cold - 10C feeling like 7C.  At least that's made the decision on what to wear quite easy - long sleeve top, shorts and gloves.  Last year it was warmer and I spent hours agonising over long sleeves or short.  I even changed twice before the start before going with long sleeves then regretting it about 2 miles into the race.

I've got my three plans ready for the race:
- plan 1 is to finish regardless of the time - highly likely to achieve that unless something really bad happens (really bad things can happen in your head as you can convince yourself you can't finish even when you physically could)
- plan 2 is to finish in under two hours - it's possible to achieve that if nothing goes too badly wrong
- plan 3 is to finish in under 2 hours 55 mins - feels a bit unlikely this year as I've not done enough speed work and I've still got a few residual twinges from the Westminster to Cheltenham run.  Plus the wind is going to make the first part of the race hard work and slow things down a bit.

No more runs now before Sunday.