In the zone?
Now, I had very low expectations for my performance in this
race. To be perfectly honest I didn’t even know if I had it in my legs to
actually run 13.1 miles, never mind the time. I haven’t trained in
6 months, I haven’t been running any sort of distance, and my diet hasn’t been
amazing. I have been pre-occupied with Ruby. She is doing great
though and Kata and I can see light at the end of the tunnel with regard to
getting at least a new kind of normality back into our lives. I am
planning to go back to training with HBT this Thursday. So anyway, I set
off in a relaxed frame of mind, not really bothered about times – my aim was to
complete the race and try to keep it as respectable as possible. I even
said to Kata in the morning that running it in 2hrs would almost be better than
running in 1hr 40mins and she said she knew what I meant. For my run on
Saturday I ran a very familiar 5km loop around Inverleith Park and I struggled
to get air in my lungs. During that run I was thinking about the Alloa
Half-Marathon and was doing the arithmetic to calculate what my time would be
if I averaged 5min/km. Final whinge: I had (have) a sore lower
which is also baby related.
The DANGER zone!
First km completed in 4:19. Too fast. Second
completed in 4:17. Need to slow down. Third completed in
4:08. What’s going on?! I felt great and completed the first 10km
in 44:15. Considering how long it took me to break the 45 minute barrier
for a 10km race, that’s not too bad. I was feeling fine and started to
think ahead. I was on track for about 1hr 34mins, but I knew I would tire
and I knew there was a big hill in my way. Relax. Just keep on
keeping on.
You ran how far? For this?!
The second half of the race was much slower. Every
kilometre was completed in 4:4x or 4:5x apart from the last one where I was
digging in and managed a 4:36. At about the 10 mile mark, at the
top of the hill, I could see that I was easily going to finish in under 1hr
40mins and I was very pleased with this. I’d not have believed it if
someone had told me that yesterday when I was coughing and wheezing my way
around 5km of Inverleith Park. I’m afraid that I relaxed a little too
much and with about a mil and a half to go I thought I would PROBABLY finish in
under 1hr 40mins. All that was needed with a slight change of gear
and I finished in 1:37:37. Very pleased with that and I am going to use
this as a platform to kick on from. Training on Thursday and I am going
to do all I can to up the mileage and eat better.
13.1 miles. Yes.
A few words on the event. I really like Alloa
Half-Marathon. It’s the perfect size in my opinion (1002 finishers), and
it’s a great route will supported by the locals. A lot of people lining
the streets, especially in Tillicoultry and Tullibody which is fantastic.
The hairs on my arms and neck were standing on end when I ran into the finish –
the support is only matched by Men’s 10k in Glasgow or The Great Glasgow Run in
my opinion. The long back stretch is gruelling but beautiful. I
heard one guy next to me comment to no one in particular, “It’s a long road
ahead”. True words. True words.
It was brilliant to see Kata and Ruby at the end, home
straight. Really nice – I was looking out for them but only saw them when
Kata shouted on me. Thanks, girls! Xx Ruby was asleep and not that
impressed J One day she will
care, I am sure she will.
Other points of note;
- Number 395 who overtook me FOUR TIMES, stopping to stretch his calves (or hamstrings – couldn’t tell) before re-joining and running by me. I made it my goal to finish ahead of that guy and I did. In your face Number 395!
- The woman that was running with either her personal trainer or a really annoying guy. They were around me from about 9 miles to the finish and were running next to one another. He was chatting away to her about the race in a bright, cheery fashion, (about their pace, about the scenery, about last year’s race and signing up again for next year) seemingly oblivious to her grunts in response as she tried to breathe never mind chat. Also a couple of times he stopped, peeled off to the side to take a photo, then caught up with her again. I really hope he was her trainer.
Great race and I hope to make it a fixture in my
calendar. Thanks to everyone involved – the stewards, the organisers, and
the entire population of Clackmannanshire for cheering us on.
