It's PB time again at Yeovilton!

In contrast to the less than summery conditions of the earlier rounds in the Yeovilton 'Summer' 5k series, the July round greeted runners with scorching conditions. Despite the kick off being at 7.15pm, temperatures were still high and so runners were grateful they were only running 5k and not any farther! Although hot, the weather was otherwise calm, with an almost complete absence of wind on the course, meaning that some fast times could be up for grabs.

Just 3 Exmouth Harriers toed the startline on this occasion: Jon Garrity and Adam and Carly Miller. All of them were chasing PBs.

Jon Garrity managed that feat with ease and, in so doing, cruised beneath the 18 minute barrier for the first time with a superb run of 17:51 for 22nd place overall and 3rd MV40. With his 18:12 from the May round and after having to sit out the last round, Jon had 2 solid months of training behind him and so the 18 minute barrier was always a possibility, but to have cruised past it so easily will be a massive confidence boost to Jon who is a quiet and understated but very determined runner.

When you are already at the sharp end of the race, as Adam Miller is, carving time off your personal best gets harder and harder and you find yourself needing the perfect conditions, to be feeling in top shape and to have some good competition around you to encourage you to push on harder. Luckily for Adam, he had the ideal combination of all of these things in this round and it all came together to give him the perfect race. He clocked a new personal best time of 16:39 for 13th place overall.

Carly, meanwhile, went into the race with the one key objective: to break the 22 minute barrier for the first time. She has had this in her sights for a while now but the weather conditions of previous rounds have not helped matters. Carly does't run with a watch so doesn't have an idea of how fast she is running beyond how hard she feels she is working. This is a very natural approach to racing and one that we could probably all benefit from taking from time to time: forget the pacing and the numbers and just run naturally, on feeling and race instinct. Carly felt that she pushed hard from the gun but was once again just short of her target with a time of 22:53. Carly is now having doubts that this is the right course for her to crack the time on as she is stronger on hills and with this being pancake flat, something like the Run Exe or an undulating parkrun course might be a more feasible option. Either way, we are all confident that with a bit more speedwork and some patience, a sub 22 minute time will be there for the taking before the year is out.

Having missed 2 rounds now, I, Ellie, am no longer able to compplete the series, but Jon, Adam and Carly are still very much "in the running" and just need to participate in the August and September rounds to complete the event. Good luck to them and we look forward to hearing how they get on in the next couple of outings.