Running gloves Making my own

After years of running in the winter I've not found a pair of running gloves that suit me. I know what I want but it's not out there on the market.

So I'm going to make my own this year. I usually just wear socks over my hands because they allow me to keep my hands in a fist and go up my arm. The problem though with socks is that they take ages to take off when I want to fiddle with my mp3 player or watch.  Normal finger gloves don't keep my hands warm because they isolate each finger. I'm thinking also of having a see through bit for my watch. And they'll be layered with a layer of waterproof material. And have a reflective bit on and ... o this is exciting. I must find a life!

"Now or never" v. reservedly

I saw this sprayed onto a road around the Great Orme which is a narrow road around a large peninsular at Llandudno, North Wales this morning. The message was for the rally car drivers who used the road the day before but it made me think about yesterday's cross country race. 

I had the best cross country race of my running career so far. I've judged that on my pace for the course which was an average of 5m43s. I also based it on my position. I approached the race slightly different in mental terms; almost a "now or never" mentality. When running around I kept trying to focus on speed, I was trying to go fast in the moment and not reserve anything for later because I needed to trust and have faith in my endurance. It's tough to convince myself to run fast, I managed to do it for the first mile and then lost focus, then regained focus then lost focus again. I wonder what makes me loose my focus? Is it being not fast enough or fit enough? I don't know. 
What I would like to try one day is a real "now or never" race. To not reserve anything for the miles ahead and just to run at 5m/m for as far as I can without having the finish in mind. I somehow trick the mind into thinking each 100metres of the race is the only 100metres. Is it possible; no it isn't because we all run reservedly because we don't want people to say "he went off too fast". 
Maybe I will go too fast and take a chance at my next race. We'll see. Has anyone else gone off without holding back and had a pleasant surprise? Is it worth doing once in a while?

Chester Marathon 2013

April 2013 I ran 2h33m at Manchester Marathon, my ninth marathon.  My battle with 2h30m was continuing. I was confident of beating that time at Chester today and would have if it weren't for x.y.z.

The normal excuses are not needed you've heard them all before but it is widely known, even recorded in Roman documents, that around Chester there is a space time warp.  It is unknown why time slows on the Cheshire plains but there are many theories. Time seems normal when passing over but is slows relative to one point staying in the same place. The most common theory is that the sandstone rocks are more dense in certain areas around the Chester Marathon course thus creating a stronge gravitational force on space time. I therefore did run sub 2h30m but not relative to the fixed timer based at the start and finish point.