Yesterday I
completed my first ever half marathon in Brighton!
It really was a
perfect day for running – the sun was out, it was around 4 degrees (probably
felt a little colder), and there was no wind chill.
Having stayed the
night before at some relatives in Hove, I woke up at 6.30am to have my porridge
in plenty of time before the race and was slightly nervous – not because I
didn’t think I could run the distance, but because I wasn’t sure what to expect
I suppose.
So porridge eaten,
stretching completed, I headed down to the sea front just after 8am where
runners had already started to arrive. It was great atmosphere down there -
Heart FM were broadcasting the event live, and there was just a general pre-race
buzz of excitement.
I chatted to a few
people I knew and then before we knew it, we were told to get into our start
‘pens’ – basically the time that you thought you’d finish in. I headed for the
2hour group, and in hindsight I should have gone in the quicker group as once
the race started, I was held up for around 2.5 miles with slower runners. There
was no room to overtake anyone either, but at the same time I didn’t want to
push things too early on.
We headed over to
the Pavillion and then East towards the Marina, where there was a slight hill
increase, but other than that the course was predominantly flat, which was
great, and allowed to take in some amazing seafront scenery.
At the 10 mile
mark my legs started to feel quite heavy, but as we turned back towards the
Pier with 3.1 miles to go I told myself it wasn’t far to go, grabbed some
Lucozade and picked up the speed.
I did make one
mistake though – with 800 metres to go decided it would be a good idea to go
for a sprint finish, not realising that actually 800 metres is still quite a
long way!!! By the time I crossed the line I was exhausted, but I’d managed to
complete the race in less than 2 hours, which was always my ultimate aim. The final time was 1hr 57:25!!!
Here is my shiny medal!
My key
learnings from the day were:
-
Don’t go in a start pen that is too slow - if anything go at the back of a faster one
-
Don’t go for a sprint finish with
800m to go - 800m is still a fair old way!
The next stop
is my 15 or 21 mile race in Cranleigh – bring it J
