Today was a great success for so many reasons. Going into the race I felt like I was going a bit into the unknown. Usually when I do half marathons my training is geared towards them or at least a stepping stone to a marathon. While I’m still running 5+ days every week, the type of training I have been doing has varied greatly and has been more focused on the hills/ultras and easy runs. Not tempo runs and long bouts of pavement plodding which I usually do when I’m training for halfs.
One thing I did have going into this race was plenty of experience in running half marathons. In fact I have run more half marathons than any other type of race or distance. This was my 11th and 2nd Alloa.
To the start
I decided to go for a slightly different approach to my journey to the start. I drove myself up to Alloa getting there an hour before. I parked in the furthest away car park and walked to the Leisure Bowl for registration. Picked up my number, dumped my stuff in the left luggage and headed for a warm up. Since the course is a loop, I decided it would be good to re-familiarise myself with the last half mile or so. So on the way out I did some active stretching and the way back I did short burst between lamp posts at race pace. I then went back to the Leisure bowl and got changed, met Giffnock folk then headed to the start.
The start to 3 miles
We exchanged good lucks and I tried to step back a bit from the people I knew. The reason for this is that I like to just totally get in my own zone just before the gun and go through the course in my head. It also means I am running my own race.
And Action...
The gun went off and I tried to look down as much as I could for the first mile just to let the field spread out and not pay attention to what other people are doing around me. To start with there is a mile loop which goes back near the start. There was great support here and I spotted a couple of Bella Harriers out of the corner of my eye who I recognised from park run, cheering, which was nice. I heard a shout of ‘Keep it steady’ – wise words for the first mile of a half. In the second mile a Giffnock team mate, James overtook me and we had a joke and wished each other good luck since I hadn’t seen him at the start. I was feeling good and was enjoying easing myself into the race.
3-6 miles
I did something from 3-6 miles which I don’t think I’ve done in a race since the Lochaber Marathon last year. I worked with Neil from my club and we were stride for stride for 3 miles. We were gradually overtaking people and I felt I went up a gear.
6-10 miles
I think the 6 mile mark was about Tilicoutry where the course turns west. This is where I cranked it up another gear and started to pull away from Neil. My next focus was James who had remained in view but must have been a good 400 meters away. This is where I started using some mental ammunition and just stayed positive. The crowds that were there I would feed off and I would smile back at them or give them the thumbs up. I had 2 songs going round in my head. “Steady as she goes” by the Raconteurs and “Smile” by Flickerstick. All these were good motivators and I was picking people off quicker now. I knew if I could get to 10 miles I could slog it out. I have to admit when I got to the 10 mile marker I did feel physically sorer at this point this year. But mentally I was in such a better place. I was thinking “Call this pain?” “Ha, try doing an ultra again – that’s proper pain”.
10-13 miles
In the 10th mile there was the famous hill everyone talks about. I did what I do for most hills which other people see as daunting. Take a look at it from the bottom – “This doesn’t look too bad and it’s never as bad as it looks”. It’s the only time since the first 2 miles where I looked down again. I look down at the kerb and watch the divides go by really quickly which make me feel like I’m going fast. I glanced up every so often to see if I have to overtake anyone. Boy did I overtake! I reached the top and felt like I was spent. But I knew that there was only a small incline to go and the rest was flat/down. I continued to overtake and got overtaken once by a Wee County Harriers runner. I got to the set of lights where I reached during my warm up. At this point I was beginning to think just how well today had gone. I really did nail it and didn’t hide my smile. I even managed to fit in a high five with a guy supporting who was dressed up as banana man. I turned the corner and there was the finish.
The Finish
I crossed the line in bang on 1.39 (chip time). I was delighted and I was less than 3 ½ minutes off my PB. I went and congratulated the rest of my club mates who also had some fine performances before getting changed and having a slow warm down back to my car. What a great race this is and thank you to everyone involved in making it so –organisers, marshals, police, water people, registration, folk at the start/finish, car park attendants and of course the runners. Chuffed to bits.
Splits:
Type | Distance | Time | Total Time | Pace |
1 | Interval | 1 mi | 7:43.61 | 7:44 |
2 | Interval | 1 mi | 15:32.23 | 7:49 |
3 | Interval | 1 mi | 23:31.14 | 7:59 |
4 | Interval | 1 mi | 31:20.95 | 7:50 |
5 | Interval | 1 mi | 38:56.75 | 7:36 |
6 | Interval | 1 mi | 46:35.42 | 7:39 |
7 | Interval | 1 mi | 53:59.83 | 7:25 |
8 | Interval | 1 mi | 1:01:28.71 | 7:29 |
9 | Interval | 1 mi | 1:08:46.36 | 7:18 |
10 | Interval | 1 mi | 1:15:59.79 | 7:14 |
11 | Interval | 1 mi | 1:23:13.30 | 7:14 |
12 | Interval | 1 mi | 1:30:30.39 | 7:18 |
13 | Interval | 1 mi | 1:37:31.49 | 7:02 |
14 | Interval | 0.23 mi | 1:39:05.97 | 6:51 |
And Finally...
1. Well done to everyone who completed the D33 yesterday. I have read some of the news on Facebook and seen some pictures. Looked fun!
2. Well done to Geoff Roes on his course record at the Chuckanut 50k.
3. Well done to Mo Farah on winning the New York half marathon in 1.00.22.
2 comments:
Sounds like a really good run from you. Well done! Silke
Thanks Silke, you would be right.
Good luck with your marathon training. Hope it goes according to plan. :-)
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