23rd!
Once again, the results of the race make pleasant reading. I was clocked officially at 40:59, so I was glad I managed to squeeze under 41 with my final sprint even if I couldn't make it under 40 this time. Overall I came 169th out of 397 finishers, so well within the top half of the field.
As ever, it looks even better when you take the men out. I was the 23rd woman to finish! That actually sounds pretty good. Taking into account all female age groups I was 23rd out of 139. If you take the over 35s in the veteran categories out of the equation and just look at the open age category, it works out at 14th out of 57, again pretty darn respectable. In fact, better than that. That's good, not just respectable. Taking all women into account I'm in the top 20%, and even age adjusted I'm in the top quarter.
I'm pretty shocked really. I've been running properly for less than a year and a lot of that time was spent dragging excess weight round with me rather than being able to run unencumbered and train properly. don't know whether to put it down to effort, ability or just sheer determination. Was there really a decent runner inside me, or does that potential lie inside everyone if only they put the effort in? I guess it must be a mixture of the two (or maybe it's because now I don't have to run with the excess weight I speed up dramatically!)
I'm starting to wonder how far I can go. I was taken by the idea of running because even if you can't beat other people you can still beat your own previous performances. But now I'm getting more interested in comparing my runs to other people. And I still think there's room for improvement. Quite a bit of improvement. I'm not sure I'll ever win prizes for my running (although with a small female field who knows), but maybe the idea of a "Good for Age" time isn't quite as laughable as you'd think. After all, it seems that I am fairly good for my age, so if I can go the distance, I may already have the speed to think about doing it. I don't want to make it an aim in my first marathon, but I suspect that it might be something I aim for at some point in the future.
As ever, it looks even better when you take the men out. I was the 23rd woman to finish! That actually sounds pretty good. Taking into account all female age groups I was 23rd out of 139. If you take the over 35s in the veteran categories out of the equation and just look at the open age category, it works out at 14th out of 57, again pretty darn respectable. In fact, better than that. That's good, not just respectable. Taking all women into account I'm in the top 20%, and even age adjusted I'm in the top quarter.
I'm pretty shocked really. I've been running properly for less than a year and a lot of that time was spent dragging excess weight round with me rather than being able to run unencumbered and train properly. don't know whether to put it down to effort, ability or just sheer determination. Was there really a decent runner inside me, or does that potential lie inside everyone if only they put the effort in? I guess it must be a mixture of the two (or maybe it's because now I don't have to run with the excess weight I speed up dramatically!)
I'm starting to wonder how far I can go. I was taken by the idea of running because even if you can't beat other people you can still beat your own previous performances. But now I'm getting more interested in comparing my runs to other people. And I still think there's room for improvement. Quite a bit of improvement. I'm not sure I'll ever win prizes for my running (although with a small female field who knows), but maybe the idea of a "Good for Age" time isn't quite as laughable as you'd think. After all, it seems that I am fairly good for my age, so if I can go the distance, I may already have the speed to think about doing it. I don't want to make it an aim in my first marathon, but I suspect that it might be something I aim for at some point in the future.
posted by YP at 8:02 PM
1 Comments:
Um, I think there was indeed a decent runner lurking inside you all along. I base this on my own experiences: I've been running slightly longer than you, and can't run nearly as far or as fast.
It's true I don't train as often as you, but even when I was a bouncy little kid I wasn't a fast runner, perhaps because my legs are quite short for my height.
I'm not letting it put me off, though - even if I can't ever be very good, I'm enjoying it. And I'm glad you are too.
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