Picture of me before the start:
Having 8 weeks of marathon training in the bag I was keen to really give this a go and push from the start. At about 9.20 everyone started to assemble on the main road where I went towards the back of the pack as I had read that there is a lot of club runners run this race so there would be a lot of people faster than me! I had a couple of times in the back of my head. 1.40.19 is my PB, so I wanted to try and get as near to that as possible as my personal best for this year was March’s Balloch to Clydebank half marathon just down the road in 1.51.08. So I thought if I try and do 8 minute miles and try and hang on.
Well it didn’t work out that way. The first 4 miles the top of my leg was sore, so I ended up doing 8.30 miles which I was quite happy with as I was starting to feel comfortable. The first 10 miles is an out and back along the A814 which runs beside the side of Gare loch. The views were excellent as you could see across to Greenock and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. The sun began to gradually turn up the heat although it didn’t seem to affect me at all. I decided to call the 5 mile turn around the half way point, as after 10 it is just a 5k left. At the turn around the course leaves the A814 goes under the road then goes up and round to go back on to the A814. At this point I started to realise the sore bit at the top of my leg had gone. So I got to the 7 mile mark in just over 58 minutes which I was pleased with so I decided with just less than 10k left to go I would up the pace and see if I could hang on. I started to pick people off and no one overtook me at all. It was great! As oppose to the first half where I felt like I was overtaking people in slow motion. It now felt like I was zooming past people. There were a few hills or really should I say undulations especially at mile 11 but due to all the hill training I have been doing was hardly noticeable and didn’t need to drop the pace.
As I reached the last few miles I was waiting for it to hurt but the pain never came. I regularly filled up my water bottle with the water provided and also took a cliff shot bloc at mile 6 and 10. So As I turned the last corner, the course heads towards the pier and the finish line. I saw the clock ticking away 1.44. 40, something, then into the 50s. I knew sub 1.45 was a possibility so I started sprinting and I really went for it. Of course the timer was 20m in front of the finish line so I wouldn’t know my race time or indeed whether I managed Sub 1.45 until the next day. On my watch it said 1.44.51! I was absolutely delighted as I had managed to run the last 6.1 miles in under 47 minutes meaning a nice negative split. I received my medal and got a bottle of lucozade, recovery flapjack and mars bar. Had my warm down along the pier to finish off an excellent day out in Helensburgh.
Sprint finish!
I would definitely recommend the Helensburgh half marathon, it is very scenic in places and goes through the town and houses elsewhere. With a capacity limit of 500 and just over 400 runners running today it’s a nice number and things spread out after 3-4 miles. It is definitely a PB course too as I would have been even closer to mine if I didn’t have the leg problem early on. It is quite a rolling course but no steep bits. The marshals were excellent and I did not have to stop at all even though the roads were not closed.
I checked my official time today on the Helensburgh athletics website and I got 1.45.01! So close, but I am still absolutely delighted. The irony is that on my marathon training schedule for next month it says ‘run a Sub 1.45 half marathon’. So 2 seconds out is pretty impressive! So with the Great Scottish run next month I’ll just have to try and find those 2 seconds!
Finally thank you to my Mum for her support throughout the day.
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