Arran Half Marathon 07/07/13

Nearly 20 years since I first ran the Arran Half, in which time I've ran it about a dozen times , winning it about 6 times with my fastest time on the course being 69.20 and my slowest 79.58 (last year!)
This years race was in the right  middle of my fortnights holiday and did a great weeks training leading up to it on the Isle of Seil ,where it poured with rain most of the week.The day before the race, however, temperatures soared as a heatwave began...great for holiday,not great for racing!
As the race kicked off at mid day it was boiling but i decided to try and push the pace as hard as i could.By 6 miles i was running roughly sub 72 mins pace but i was starting to wilt big time in the heat.I had built up a healthy gap by then and knew if i could just keep going i would hang on to win ...but ,bloody hell it was tough!
Finished in 76.35 to win by about 2 minutes...James was at the finishing line with his fireman sam scoosher..it was a god send! Great to see my cousin Craig running as well in only his 3rd half marathon, fantastic effort.
Decided after the race that i wouldn't race anything over 10k in this kind of heat again( apart from the Arran relay in a fortnights time.)Most people suffer running in higher temps but my performances take such a huge dip in both training and races .The recovery time from races also seems to take far longer.2 days after the Alloa Half in March i was able to do a great session but it took a whole week to recover from this one....ooooaft!