Argentan half-marathon [1 25′ 02″ – 29/503 – V2: 3/104 – 19°C]

A rather comparable race in Argentan with last year, with exactly the same time, a similar weather (a bit too hot and too windy), and a lack of pack for half of the race that again saw me running by myself the whole second half. This was my iXXth Argentan half-marathon. I started a bit more slowly than last year, wary of the headwind, then accelerated in the forest and felt really well till the 17th kilometer, where I slowed down a bit, with a group of three runners passing me on the 18th and alas one of them V2. I tried to keep up till the 20th, but they ended up 20 seconds faster. This year I had left my traditional Insee Paris Club red tank top, to reduce the chances to be spotted but my opponent from last year was apparently not there. The number of runners seems to be going down steadily from one year to the next, maybe more so this year due to another race on Pont de Normandie tomorrow. This helped with keeping my chances of reaching a podium higher than expected, as I was not at all thinking I could make it again this year… [Thanks again and again to the photographs of Normandiecourseapied for their free pictures!]