Post by higgy on Oct 29, 2012 8:38:25 GMT
Some months back I bought my wife a surprise present for her upcoming 40th Birthday. I entered her into a local Half Marathon ! Once the initial shock (I use the term loosely...) had worn off and she realised that I’d be doing it with her, and that we would train together and that it was only a little bit more than twice as far as she’s ever run before.... she was slightly less concerned ;-).
Our training started..... and then stopped as I picked up an injury that put me out for 4 weeks. The lead up to the race was therefore spent playing training catchup, trying to work up some miles that would give us a chance of finishing. In the end we managed a long run of 11 miles and a peak weekly mileage of 20 miles – I don’t think we’d be challenging for any prizes that didn’t start with the word booby..(fnaar). Given our training paces, I’d calculated from another well known running site that also contains a forum... that we should expect a half in around 2:28-2:30 so we set some objectives.
The objectives were :
1. To get round without requiring medical assistance ! ( we would be happy with that).
2. To get round in 2:30 or thereabouts (we would be really happy with that),
3. To get round sub 2:20 (we would be bloody amazed at that !),
4. To get round under 2:15 (we would have taken a short cut....).
The day dawned, which is about the only positive statement I can think of for it. It was cold, windy and hammering down with rain... perfect... After shovelling porridge down me, dropping the kids at the pool, changing into my running gear and stashing some of Taff Tanners secret race fuel into my pockets (Jelly babies... but only Green ones cos Green means GO !), we set off.
When we arrived at Preston, the queue to park in the multi-storey car park was horrendous – but we had a free parking permit for the day so I was going to use it. To avoid the people who go round and round the car parks scouring every single parking bay I took my usual tactic of driving straight to the top floor where there is loads of free space and you’re able to park and get out of the car park whilst others are still driving round. Unfortunately, the top floor was the 8th floor, a mistake that I would regret later when I came back to the car after the race !!
We wandered off to the start, had the usual nervous wee and joined the 2000-odd runners herded like cattle into the pens around the Market Square. Standing amongst the other runners was the easiest way to try to keep warm whilst we waited, and we didn’t have to wait long. We heard the crack of the starting pistol and were aware that the race had started, but as we were round the corner from the start line we didn’t see it. Slowly the mass began to move and, just before the line, people started into a slow jog and we were off.
The first half mile was a nightmare through the City Centre, the roads had been narrowed down and, conscious that we didn’t want to set off too quickly, we were stuck between the strategy of hanging behind the 4 people in pink tutus forming a line across the road whilst they had a nice chat, or pushing past and getting on with it. The latter won, especially as the first mile was downhill... or free speed as we call it. So we let the brakes off and set off, a nice pace and easy running – no problems.
We both felt very strong, having had a good week of very low intensity running leading up to the day and were able to leapfrog loads of people for hardly any effort at all – life was good. Then it really hammered it down, rain was bouncing off the floor and our feet were getting drenched through puddles that we couldn’t avoid. Ah well – it all adds to the fun and, so long as we didn’t get any blisters, we’d be fine. The water only gets as far as your skin and your waterproof from that point on !
At the first water station I grabbed a bottle and a Gel (I wasn’t going to use it but it was free !!). In my haste to chug as much water down as I could before I got to the end of the line of bins I over tipped the bottle and ended up with a mouth and a nose full of water... Coughing and spluttering I lobbed the bottle into a bin and tried to regain some composure whilst laughing at the headline “Man drowns during Half Marathon run...”
The first part of the race was an out and back loop of around 4 miles towards Cop Lane. There were a couple of long gradual hills but nothing really difficult and we were also able to watch the leaders coming back down the other side of the road – which was really interesting.
Back into Preston at around Mile 4 and we were still going strong – we’d gone through 5k in 30:00 dead and I was in two minds as to whether to slow down to make sure we got round, or think “sod it – lets’ see what happens”. The latter won !
Through Preston and we headed out in another direction for another out and back loop. This time with hills. We coasted up the first big hill, passing people who were stopping to walk, we really were starting to think that this was going to be easy, we were both feeling really comfortable, conversational pace, plenty left in the legs etc etc... but then the rest of the hills started. It wasn’t as if there was one big hill we had to climb but it felt as though we were climbing all the time, you go up a hill and round a corner and there’s another one...
Still – we got out to 7 miles and were still feeling pretty good. 10k had come and gone in 62 minutes (which when you consider that’s as far as Sue had raced before and her PB was only 1 minute slower shows that she was trying hard). Miles 8 to 10 however, were a different matter.
The fast (for us) pace and the continual hills finally started to take their toll. Whilst my legs were hurting, which I expected as our training mileage hadn’t really been sufficient, more difficult was the fact that I wanted to stop. I had tried to distract myself by watching runners coming the other way and seeing if I knew anyone, by checking on Sue to see if she was OK and talking to her, talking to people around me, trying to convince one lady that she wasn’t ACTUALLY going to die but death may have been a sweet relief... and it had all stopped having any effect. Time to break out the Taffster Secret Performance-Enhancer... Two green Jelly Babies and things started to feel a bit better – it still hurt, but I had long stopped caring about that.... Sue was also persuaded to stuff a Jelly Baby down as she was complaining of feeling light headed and having stomach cramps (and to show how much I love her – I gave her a GREEN jelly baby !), a short time later she began to pick up again. Mile 10 went past and we started to climb.
This time the big hill really hurt and we struggled to the top, determined not to let it beat us and then coasted over the top and released the brakes for the downhill – 2 miles to go.
Now it was hurting... quads and hip flexors were tightening up, all the spring had left my joints, my feet were wet and starting to become sore...fuck it. It’s not far now MTFU and shut up.
We passed mile 12 and came back into the City Centre and it was uphill again, up the dual carriageway and off into an underpass, as we came around the bend of the underpass I knew we were close to the finish and then we hit the steepest hill of the day. I found the strength to shout “You Bastards !!!” to no-one in particular, but aimed generally at the organisers, then got my head down and pushed. As we came over the top of the hill Sue came alongside and held my hand and squeezed it – sort of “thank you for buying me this gift” sort of squeeze, i.e. it didn’t include the use of her nails or anything.
We ran the last half mile or so like this until she let go and took off towards the finish line as it came into view. Realising that I’d been sucker-punched I set off after her and crossed the line 2 seconds ahead.
I heard a loud “WHOOP YEAH !!!!” from behind and turned to see her over the line with the biggest smile ever on her face. We had a hug before the marshalls moved us on and went to collect our medals. She seemed to be in much better condition than me as she could actually walk, whilst I was reduced to a bit of a hobble but I’m putting that down to my age !
Once we’d got out of the finish area I checked my watch, the Garmin (and chip) time was 2:17:36 !!! We were both bouncing happy as we made our way back to the carpark and our search for the lifts (remember where we’d parked our car ? So did we after we tried to get up one of the flights of stairs !).
So all-in-all a great day out, a tough run but a good result. ...and the final verdict on the Birthday present “I really enjoyed that, I’m so happy... but can we not do one for a bit now, and next time no f*ckin hills !!!”
Our training started..... and then stopped as I picked up an injury that put me out for 4 weeks. The lead up to the race was therefore spent playing training catchup, trying to work up some miles that would give us a chance of finishing. In the end we managed a long run of 11 miles and a peak weekly mileage of 20 miles – I don’t think we’d be challenging for any prizes that didn’t start with the word booby..(fnaar). Given our training paces, I’d calculated from another well known running site that also contains a forum... that we should expect a half in around 2:28-2:30 so we set some objectives.
The objectives were :
1. To get round without requiring medical assistance ! ( we would be happy with that).
2. To get round in 2:30 or thereabouts (we would be really happy with that),
3. To get round sub 2:20 (we would be bloody amazed at that !),
4. To get round under 2:15 (we would have taken a short cut....).
The day dawned, which is about the only positive statement I can think of for it. It was cold, windy and hammering down with rain... perfect... After shovelling porridge down me, dropping the kids at the pool, changing into my running gear and stashing some of Taff Tanners secret race fuel into my pockets (Jelly babies... but only Green ones cos Green means GO !), we set off.
When we arrived at Preston, the queue to park in the multi-storey car park was horrendous – but we had a free parking permit for the day so I was going to use it. To avoid the people who go round and round the car parks scouring every single parking bay I took my usual tactic of driving straight to the top floor where there is loads of free space and you’re able to park and get out of the car park whilst others are still driving round. Unfortunately, the top floor was the 8th floor, a mistake that I would regret later when I came back to the car after the race !!
We wandered off to the start, had the usual nervous wee and joined the 2000-odd runners herded like cattle into the pens around the Market Square. Standing amongst the other runners was the easiest way to try to keep warm whilst we waited, and we didn’t have to wait long. We heard the crack of the starting pistol and were aware that the race had started, but as we were round the corner from the start line we didn’t see it. Slowly the mass began to move and, just before the line, people started into a slow jog and we were off.
The first half mile was a nightmare through the City Centre, the roads had been narrowed down and, conscious that we didn’t want to set off too quickly, we were stuck between the strategy of hanging behind the 4 people in pink tutus forming a line across the road whilst they had a nice chat, or pushing past and getting on with it. The latter won, especially as the first mile was downhill... or free speed as we call it. So we let the brakes off and set off, a nice pace and easy running – no problems.
We both felt very strong, having had a good week of very low intensity running leading up to the day and were able to leapfrog loads of people for hardly any effort at all – life was good. Then it really hammered it down, rain was bouncing off the floor and our feet were getting drenched through puddles that we couldn’t avoid. Ah well – it all adds to the fun and, so long as we didn’t get any blisters, we’d be fine. The water only gets as far as your skin and your waterproof from that point on !
At the first water station I grabbed a bottle and a Gel (I wasn’t going to use it but it was free !!). In my haste to chug as much water down as I could before I got to the end of the line of bins I over tipped the bottle and ended up with a mouth and a nose full of water... Coughing and spluttering I lobbed the bottle into a bin and tried to regain some composure whilst laughing at the headline “Man drowns during Half Marathon run...”
The first part of the race was an out and back loop of around 4 miles towards Cop Lane. There were a couple of long gradual hills but nothing really difficult and we were also able to watch the leaders coming back down the other side of the road – which was really interesting.
Back into Preston at around Mile 4 and we were still going strong – we’d gone through 5k in 30:00 dead and I was in two minds as to whether to slow down to make sure we got round, or think “sod it – lets’ see what happens”. The latter won !
Through Preston and we headed out in another direction for another out and back loop. This time with hills. We coasted up the first big hill, passing people who were stopping to walk, we really were starting to think that this was going to be easy, we were both feeling really comfortable, conversational pace, plenty left in the legs etc etc... but then the rest of the hills started. It wasn’t as if there was one big hill we had to climb but it felt as though we were climbing all the time, you go up a hill and round a corner and there’s another one...
Still – we got out to 7 miles and were still feeling pretty good. 10k had come and gone in 62 minutes (which when you consider that’s as far as Sue had raced before and her PB was only 1 minute slower shows that she was trying hard). Miles 8 to 10 however, were a different matter.
The fast (for us) pace and the continual hills finally started to take their toll. Whilst my legs were hurting, which I expected as our training mileage hadn’t really been sufficient, more difficult was the fact that I wanted to stop. I had tried to distract myself by watching runners coming the other way and seeing if I knew anyone, by checking on Sue to see if she was OK and talking to her, talking to people around me, trying to convince one lady that she wasn’t ACTUALLY going to die but death may have been a sweet relief... and it had all stopped having any effect. Time to break out the Taffster Secret Performance-Enhancer... Two green Jelly Babies and things started to feel a bit better – it still hurt, but I had long stopped caring about that.... Sue was also persuaded to stuff a Jelly Baby down as she was complaining of feeling light headed and having stomach cramps (and to show how much I love her – I gave her a GREEN jelly baby !), a short time later she began to pick up again. Mile 10 went past and we started to climb.
This time the big hill really hurt and we struggled to the top, determined not to let it beat us and then coasted over the top and released the brakes for the downhill – 2 miles to go.
Now it was hurting... quads and hip flexors were tightening up, all the spring had left my joints, my feet were wet and starting to become sore...fuck it. It’s not far now MTFU and shut up.
We passed mile 12 and came back into the City Centre and it was uphill again, up the dual carriageway and off into an underpass, as we came around the bend of the underpass I knew we were close to the finish and then we hit the steepest hill of the day. I found the strength to shout “You Bastards !!!” to no-one in particular, but aimed generally at the organisers, then got my head down and pushed. As we came over the top of the hill Sue came alongside and held my hand and squeezed it – sort of “thank you for buying me this gift” sort of squeeze, i.e. it didn’t include the use of her nails or anything.
We ran the last half mile or so like this until she let go and took off towards the finish line as it came into view. Realising that I’d been sucker-punched I set off after her and crossed the line 2 seconds ahead.
I heard a loud “WHOOP YEAH !!!!” from behind and turned to see her over the line with the biggest smile ever on her face. We had a hug before the marshalls moved us on and went to collect our medals. She seemed to be in much better condition than me as she could actually walk, whilst I was reduced to a bit of a hobble but I’m putting that down to my age !
Once we’d got out of the finish area I checked my watch, the Garmin (and chip) time was 2:17:36 !!! We were both bouncing happy as we made our way back to the carpark and our search for the lifts (remember where we’d parked our car ? So did we after we tried to get up one of the flights of stairs !).
So all-in-all a great day out, a tough run but a good result. ...and the final verdict on the Birthday present “I really enjoyed that, I’m so happy... but can we not do one for a bit now, and next time no f*ckin hills !!!”
