On Sunday I unexpectedly got a last minute place at the Alloa Half Marathon. I was really pleased about this because after my 70 minute Lasswade 10, I was keen to test myself on a half marathon distance. My half marathon PB was set last August in Haddington and was 1:41:31. If I extended my Lasswade 10 time out for another 3 miles, that would be 1hr 31 mins so I knew I could beat my Haddington time. Unfortunately though, running isn’t arithmetic and so I would have to go out there and prove it. I set myself the target of finishing Alloa in under 1hr 35mins.
My first PB in any distance for ages
The morning of the race was chaos. Kata and I needed to leave at 8am, I woke up at 7am (plenty of time) and that’s when it all started to go wrong. No hot water in the shower for some reason meant Kata had a head full of soapy hair, I woke Kata up too late to start with because I was making her breakfast. It was Mother’s Day so as well as preparing for the race, I was packing the car full of flowers and gifts and a smart change of clothes to go out for dinner later. The upshot was that I forgot just about everything including the Mother’s Day cards… and my trainers!!!! The learning point here is to pack the night before a race, which normally I would but I spent the night before the race in the pub drinking 5 pints of Belhaven Best. I’m sure Wilson Kipsang prepares the same way. I therefore ran in my Nike Free Runners that I tend to wear walking about the streets of Edinburgh, and usually to and from races in case my race shoes get wet. Not ideal, but I thought it’d be OK. It wasn’t really OK.
So we left Edinburgh at 08:15 (without my trainers) and thanks to Kata driving like an espresso fuelled Michael Schumacher, we made it to Alloa in good time to register. Turns out I would have had plenty of time to go back for my trainers when I realised I’d forgotten them.
We bumped into Rachel and James before the race. Rachel suggested that we go for a wee warm up jog so we did. Everyone was very optimistic about a PB – the course was pretty flat and the weather was ideal (a bit chilly but no wind worth mentioning). Rachel and I elbowed our way to near the front of the pack so as not to get caught up amongst the slower runners right after the start. There were nearly 2000 starters and negotiating the back markers for the first mile could have severely dented our PB chances or at the very least slowed our times. We got underway after the starter’s pistol sounded (got to love a race that starts with to the sound of small fire arms) and headed off into the streets of Alloa.
Pre-Race with Rachel - Note my rubbish shoes
One of the first things I noticed was that amongst the things I had forgotten this morning I could now add, ‘change my Garmin from kilometres to miles’. I like to keep the pace setting in kilometres because that’s what I’m used to and the numbers mean more to me, but in a race measured in miles it’d have been nice to have had the distance setting on my Garmin the same. Ah well. I knew that I was going to run about 21km so I knew that I needed to run four and a half minute kilometres to get in under 1hr 35mins. Sorted. I completed my first 1km in 4:01 so if anything I was maybe going a bit fast. That always happens at the start of races so I wasn’t too worried about it. Next kilometre was 4:11, the next one 4:08. I felt good so I just went with it. I actually completed the first 10km fairly easily in 42:54 and my 10km PB is 42:30 so things were going great.
The first problem I encountered was at 4 miles where I realised I was getting a blister on my heel. My Nike Free Runners were letting me down. My heel was moving side to side inside my shoe and there was nothing I could do about it. It was sore of course and burned for the next 9 miles but I didn’t spend my whole time crying about it. Sometimes I was aware of it, sometimes I wasn’t. It was what it was so I got on with it. I’ll spare readers a photo of my blister. I once posted a picture of my suspected broken toe on this blog, but I will draw the line at blistered heels. Suffice to say that my right heel is now mostly blister.
You can clearly see how crumpled and useless the right heel is. Not the running shoes for me.
We passed a road sign coming into (I think) Sauchie that said, “Watch Your Speed”. This amused me. Where were the photographers for this perfect photo opportunity? We reached Tillicoultry (near Stirling) and the streets were lined with supporters which was fantastic. Big thanks to the good people of Tillicoultry because it really helped. Some were out on the streets cheering us on, some were handing out jelly babies, others watched from their gardens, wearing their dressing gowns and wondering what the commotion outside was that woke them up before lunch time on a Sunday. I even heard a shout for “HBT!” as I passed.
At about 7.5 miles, a guy in front of me collapsed. Coming into Alva, we passed a roadside garden area with grass and flowerbeds. The runner in question aimed for it and collapsed onto the grass. His legs buckled, then the next thing to hit the ground was his chest. It didn’t look good. There were marshals on hand quite quickly so no need to stop. Due to the route of the race (it ducks down a side street, around a traffic cone and then back on to the main road again, presumably too add distance to meet the half-marathon requirement) I passed the scene again about 1 minute later and he was still on the ground, moaning. I hope he’s OK.
Heading home
Due to the number of runners taking part there were always a lot of people around you. My recent races have been smaller and often you find yourself isolated, but there was no chance of that happening on this occasion. I recognised the same vests and faces reappearing around me at points through the race, either as I caught them again, or they caught me. It was a good size of field, not to crowded, but big enough to feel like an event.
There was quite a steep hill at 10 miles but it was short. I read posts on the internet after the race complaining about the hill. As we know, all things are relative, but come on, that wasn’t a hill! Not really. It was steep(ish) but it was barely 50m. There was another, longer, but less steep hill at 11 miles but honestly neither of these hills would be worth mentioning if it weren’t for the fact teat the rest of the course was like a bowling green. The stage of the race from Tillicoultry to Menstie is quite mentally gruelling as it’s a long, flat, straight road. It’s a 4 mile slog. During this section of the run you can see The Wallace Monument which made me wonder where on Earth we were going and if we were going to be turning back towards Alloa soon – last time I saw The Wallace Monument was during the Stirling 10k.
I took some water at the final water station (mile 11 I think) and as I took a sip from the bottle, the army cadet girl that handed it to me shouted at me, “Don’t waste that water, get it down you!” I was sorely tempted to bounce the remains of the wasted bottle of water off her forehead. Her advice wasn’t the type you like to hear when you are 11 miles into a 13 mile race and your body and mind are resisting every step forward. So big thanks to (most) of the marshals and helpers who gave up their Sunday so as we could run round in a big circle for a few hours.
Pictured from the front and rear
At one point I let myself believe that I might actually be on for completing the course in under 1hr 30mins, but at mile 10 I gave up on what was to be a fair a ridiculous ambition. My breathing was becoming laboured by this stage and I had to consciously get it back under control again. I was still easily on for the original target and when I saw the 12 mile marker I realised I had 11 minutes to complete the last mile – it was time to light the cigar and get the bubbly out of the fridge. In the end I completed the last mile in less than 7.5 minutes and ran home in a PB time of 1:32:48. A 9 minute PB! I was exhausted. I had run fast. My face was purple, my legs were like jelly, and my blistered heel was on fire. It’s very rare indeed for me to finish a race and feel like I did really well and to the best of my ability, but Sunday was one of those rare occasions. However, I did almost consider a DNF at 13 miles when I saw runners who had already finished milling about in the fabulous bright pink race t-shirts! Only joking – the t-shirts are cool, unique, and I will wear mine proudly. Rachel and James also both got a PB and ran really good races. A very successful day all round. Alloa Half-Marathon is a good, fast course and I would definitely like to run it again.
James and I feeling smug
The shirt clashes with my face
Finally, and I only mention this because I was discussing with my dad on Sunday whether or not this would happen, but 5 runners finished in just over 3 hours. Well done to them – I know from bitter experience how hard it is to run for that length of time. I finished 268th out of 1660.
Update
I read that the runner who collapsed is in hospital and recovering well. He received life saving assistance at the scene. Good luck to him.
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