My first half marathon, and a finish inside the top 10%... I guess I have to be pretty pleased with that. When I decided to step up to half marathon distance, my notional goal was 'under 100 minutes', and I managed that - by a clear margin - at my first attempt. Official time is given as 1h 33m 32sec, and 904th position in a field of 9877.

We arrived very early, as advised - and found things more or less deserted. I had roughly an hour to kill, wrapped in my black bin bag, trying desperately not to shiver in the freezing wind. We got underway, and the first kilometre was much slower and more congested than I would normally like. But as we left the Green Park office park, things began to spread out, and I could find my own pace a bit more.

The first half proved to be very quick indeed... I reckon it was the fastest 10km I've ever run, a fraction over 40m30 - and that's with another 11 still to go after it. It all felt very comfortable, and very enjoyable. Lots of people out to watch, lots of space on the road, and familiar territory. But from the halfway point, as you'll see on the graph, the split times began to slip. The 16th kilometre was a real shocker, the 17th was a bit of an improvement (albeit mainly downhill!), but the rest were pretty disappointing. The dream of breaking 90 minutes was long gone before we reached the Madejski Stadium. But what a moment when you turn the corner, and drop down into the stadium itself. The noise, the crowd, the colour - and the sight of the finish gantry. An instant of real elation, and I can't think of many better moments in my running career so far.

I can't be too unhappy with the times. Looking at the data from my iPod, I didn't underperform compared to what I've been doing in preparation. Ninety minutes was just too much to hope for, especially when you add in the extra unaccounted distance - I ran 21.8km in the course of a 21.1km race. But it's close enough to 90 for that to be a realistic target next time. Next time? Yeah, almost certainly. But to be honest, given how I felt at the end, a full marathon still seems like a heck of a challenge.

Now, I'm sitting here nursing my right foot, which boasted the largest blood blister I have ever suffered. That's the last time I use Mizuno trainers; they were meant to be my special lightweight shoes for racing, but I should have stuck with my heavier, but better fitted Sauconys. I'll be walking quite gingerly for a couple of days as a result, and certainly won't be running this week.