Brass Monkey
This half marathon was very highly recommended, and having run it I can see why. Fantastic organisation, lots and lots of highly supportive marshalls, a nice warm sweatshirt at the end and, above all, very very flat and PB-inducing.
Coming up to this race I didn't really know what I was aiming for. I knew I was feeling a lot better than my last half (Amsterdam) which I finished in 2:00:29, so I was quite confident I'd get under two hours. I also knew from the stats that I was running a lot better than my first half in February last year (1:55:40), and hoped that I would at least be able to match that time. What I couldn't work out is how my running compared to last May, between my fantastic 10k PB at Rothwell and my half PB in Blackpool (1:54:07). My race plan, if you can call it that, was to run at a pace I could sustain for the whole race without a walk break (the one half I'd completed before without a walk break was my first, and not even a PB, but walk breaks seem to dent my confidence that I can run any further than 13, which is important in marathon training). I didn't know whether I could quite get a PB this time round (on the basis my 10k time still doesn't seem to have hit the heights of Rothwell), but I knew that it was doable if everything came together.
And boy, did it come together. From some good training runs, to a week completely off the booze, a Saturday spent mainly off my feet and eating, but not gorging on carbs, to a morning when I felt up and wanted to run (it doesn't always happen like that, believe me). Admittedly, up until about 10 minutes before the race I was deliberating what to wear. It was cold (could it be anything but, in January, with a name like that), but that didn't bother me so much as the prospect of hail or wind leftover from the midweek gales. I had a wind/rain jacket I'd picked up cheap during the week which would make me feel a lot better if it got wet, but if it didn't, would I be too hot? (And, thinking of a consideration not often taken into account my runners, fluorescent yellow really didn't match my club vest). In the end I decided to wear it under my vest, and deal with heat if it became a problem. The hail didn't materialise, and I could probably have run without the jacket and kept my gloves on for longer, but equally I wasn't hot enough to need to stop and rearrange my clothing. So that was good.
I started off at a cracking pace, and was pretty much dot on 8 minute miles for the first three miles or so. I remember going past the 3 mile marker just before 24 minutes and I was quite shocked I'd kept up that pace for three whole miles. I did feel like I should be easing off a bit though, there is a big difference between 3 miles and 13! About this time someone from running club ran past me (he'd started further back). I'd always assumed he was faster than I am. He's older than I am, and maybe not as quick as he used to be, but he's still got a decent bit of speed. I wasn't too concerned when he got ahead of me, it wasn't him I was racing.
At about 6 miles I was surprised to find myself still motoring at a pretty decent speed. I think I passed 6 miles in about 50 minutes, which meant that I was almost certainly going faster than I had done in my last 10k in November, which is always a good sign. Between 6 and 8 miles I felt like I was struggling a bit. This is the time I often find hard in a half. You've been running for an hour or so, but you've still got another hour of running ahead of you, this time on tireder legs. But I kept on going.
Then after about 8 or 9 miles I started seeing the bloke from my club not too far ahead of me. I really thought that he'd have opened up more of a gap than he had done. And after another mile or so, I noticed something even stranger. The gap was closing. I was still running, and my legs had actually started to feel a bit stronger than they had done a couple of miles back. I was definitely gaining on him. I counted that I was about eight places behind him. And one by one I picked them off (or the people in front of me picked him off). And after about 11 miles, just before a bridge (which was one of the only "hills" on the course), I passed him. He said that he'd been slowing down for a while, but I didn't stop to chat because I was picking some momentum up at this point.
From now on I had one goal in my mind. To beat him. As simple as that. Going round I'd been doing calculations of what time I might finish, at what point I might reach the blissful point where I could walk the rest and still get a PB (not that I planned to walk, but it's the point where you know you'll be OK). But now I felt like I had someone on my shoulder, pushing me on, to make sure that I didn't walk, and I didn't slow down. As other people walked over the second bridge (come on, these are people who can run a relatively decent time in a half, and a teeny tiny bridge defeats them - they should try running round Kirkstall!) I was overtaking them, but more concerned about what was behind me.
I turned into the racecourse to finish, and was met by the strongest headwind of the run. Fantastic. But I could see the end, and I wasn't slowing down and letting him overtake me now. I had no idea how far he was behind (I haven't mastered the art of running forward without running into anything while looking behind me yet), but I knew he was still behind. So I ran to the end and I finished...
in....
1:49:something.
My watch said 1:49, but the official time will be a bit more because I only started my watch when I crossed the start line, not when the gun went off. But I think it was about 1:49:20, and it was certainly less than 1:49:40 which is what Peter said his time was when he finished a couple of places behind me.
I never thought I could get below 1:50 in this race, or take so much off my PB, and I feel absolutely over the moon. Plus I've beaten someone I didn't actually set out to beat (sadly, Cassie, who I'd also have loved to beat, finished in 1:47 ish, she must have been in front of me at the start because she definitely didn't pass me).
Certainly worth a celebration drink or two, and a sign that just sometimes a bit of hard training, and the fates being on your side really does mean that it comes together nicely on the day.
Coming up to this race I didn't really know what I was aiming for. I knew I was feeling a lot better than my last half (Amsterdam) which I finished in 2:00:29, so I was quite confident I'd get under two hours. I also knew from the stats that I was running a lot better than my first half in February last year (1:55:40), and hoped that I would at least be able to match that time. What I couldn't work out is how my running compared to last May, between my fantastic 10k PB at Rothwell and my half PB in Blackpool (1:54:07). My race plan, if you can call it that, was to run at a pace I could sustain for the whole race without a walk break (the one half I'd completed before without a walk break was my first, and not even a PB, but walk breaks seem to dent my confidence that I can run any further than 13, which is important in marathon training). I didn't know whether I could quite get a PB this time round (on the basis my 10k time still doesn't seem to have hit the heights of Rothwell), but I knew that it was doable if everything came together.
And boy, did it come together. From some good training runs, to a week completely off the booze, a Saturday spent mainly off my feet and eating, but not gorging on carbs, to a morning when I felt up and wanted to run (it doesn't always happen like that, believe me). Admittedly, up until about 10 minutes before the race I was deliberating what to wear. It was cold (could it be anything but, in January, with a name like that), but that didn't bother me so much as the prospect of hail or wind leftover from the midweek gales. I had a wind/rain jacket I'd picked up cheap during the week which would make me feel a lot better if it got wet, but if it didn't, would I be too hot? (And, thinking of a consideration not often taken into account my runners, fluorescent yellow really didn't match my club vest). In the end I decided to wear it under my vest, and deal with heat if it became a problem. The hail didn't materialise, and I could probably have run without the jacket and kept my gloves on for longer, but equally I wasn't hot enough to need to stop and rearrange my clothing. So that was good.
I started off at a cracking pace, and was pretty much dot on 8 minute miles for the first three miles or so. I remember going past the 3 mile marker just before 24 minutes and I was quite shocked I'd kept up that pace for three whole miles. I did feel like I should be easing off a bit though, there is a big difference between 3 miles and 13! About this time someone from running club ran past me (he'd started further back). I'd always assumed he was faster than I am. He's older than I am, and maybe not as quick as he used to be, but he's still got a decent bit of speed. I wasn't too concerned when he got ahead of me, it wasn't him I was racing.
At about 6 miles I was surprised to find myself still motoring at a pretty decent speed. I think I passed 6 miles in about 50 minutes, which meant that I was almost certainly going faster than I had done in my last 10k in November, which is always a good sign. Between 6 and 8 miles I felt like I was struggling a bit. This is the time I often find hard in a half. You've been running for an hour or so, but you've still got another hour of running ahead of you, this time on tireder legs. But I kept on going.
Then after about 8 or 9 miles I started seeing the bloke from my club not too far ahead of me. I really thought that he'd have opened up more of a gap than he had done. And after another mile or so, I noticed something even stranger. The gap was closing. I was still running, and my legs had actually started to feel a bit stronger than they had done a couple of miles back. I was definitely gaining on him. I counted that I was about eight places behind him. And one by one I picked them off (or the people in front of me picked him off). And after about 11 miles, just before a bridge (which was one of the only "hills" on the course), I passed him. He said that he'd been slowing down for a while, but I didn't stop to chat because I was picking some momentum up at this point.
From now on I had one goal in my mind. To beat him. As simple as that. Going round I'd been doing calculations of what time I might finish, at what point I might reach the blissful point where I could walk the rest and still get a PB (not that I planned to walk, but it's the point where you know you'll be OK). But now I felt like I had someone on my shoulder, pushing me on, to make sure that I didn't walk, and I didn't slow down. As other people walked over the second bridge (come on, these are people who can run a relatively decent time in a half, and a teeny tiny bridge defeats them - they should try running round Kirkstall!) I was overtaking them, but more concerned about what was behind me.
I turned into the racecourse to finish, and was met by the strongest headwind of the run. Fantastic. But I could see the end, and I wasn't slowing down and letting him overtake me now. I had no idea how far he was behind (I haven't mastered the art of running forward without running into anything while looking behind me yet), but I knew he was still behind. So I ran to the end and I finished...
in....
1:49:something.
My watch said 1:49, but the official time will be a bit more because I only started my watch when I crossed the start line, not when the gun went off. But I think it was about 1:49:20, and it was certainly less than 1:49:40 which is what Peter said his time was when he finished a couple of places behind me.
I never thought I could get below 1:50 in this race, or take so much off my PB, and I feel absolutely over the moon. Plus I've beaten someone I didn't actually set out to beat (sadly, Cassie, who I'd also have loved to beat, finished in 1:47 ish, she must have been in front of me at the start because she definitely didn't pass me).
Certainly worth a celebration drink or two, and a sign that just sometimes a bit of hard training, and the fates being on your side really does mean that it comes together nicely on the day.
posted by YP at 5:24 PM
1 Comments:
Excellebt work! The first sub-1:50 is a milestone half!
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