half marathon - AnnaTheApple

July 15, 2015July 15, 2015

Stansted Slog Half Marathon 2015

As I said in my last post I was very much ill-prepared for this race. Entering it was last minute as I didn’t think I’d get back from Dorset in time so I was really pleased to find out I could do it. I did it last year and it was fantastic. Tough terrain and hills but the atmosphere and scenery was lovely (and we were given a platter of cakes at the end…).

Sadly this year I was the only one from my club there as quite a few were marshalling at the Wyvern 10k. I felt bad for not helping out but at the same time this race was absolutely perfect for judging how I was doing in the lead up to an off-road marathon.

I already knew what I was in for in terms of how tough it was going to be but I wasn’t prepared for the weather to be so miserable. Because I was staying at my parents’ I only had what I’d packed…and what I’d packed was suited more for a summer’s day (how silly of me to presume we’d have one of those in July).

Not only did I wake up feeling fairly rough, tired and delicate (with the excesses of the wedding the day before and having being sick in the middle of the night) but the weather was against me too. Part of me thought of jacking it in but I knew I’d have to go out for a long run anyway if I wanted to take this upcoming marathon seriously and I’d much prefer to run a scenic race with other people than pounding the pavements on my own.

The face of someone wanting to go back to bed

My parents drove us down there and the atmosphere in the car was somewhat subdued. None of us wanted to go really. It was wet, a bit chilly and just grey and miserable. I’d already pre-warned them that this was a training race so not to expect anything exciting. Well they were just overjoyed to be coming I can tell you 😉

The race begins at Stansted House. Last year it was lovely and sunny…this year, not so much. We all huddled under the marquees. My dad was planning to see me at two different points in the course so wished me luck and headed off. The nice thing about this race is it’s very relaxed and well organised with bib collection and bag drop-off. It’s a small race, which I like.

Flip-flops are also weather appropriate…

My mum had planned to see me off then head to the cafe for a hot drink and pop out a bit later around my finishing time. She’s still got a poorly back so she can’t do great amounts of walking. It was nice to have her at the start and she was able to take my bag for me…which meant peeling off my lovely layers.

It wasn’t actually that cold. It felt quite muggy and damp. I did get some looks though as everyone else was covered up! In actual fact though within 4 minutes of running I was HOT. It was that horrible clammy rain that just covers you in moisture.

Because I was so unenthusiastic about this race I wasn’t nervous at all, or even thinking about the miles ahead. I was just indifferent to what was going to happen. As I stood ready at the start I suddenly realised I hadn’t even found satellites on my Garmin!! I was that blasé about the run I’d forgotten. I had a mini-panic as I realised it’d never find it in time. But actually it really didn’t matter because pace wasn’t really anything to worry about on a hilly off-road course and I wanted to keep things easy anyway.

I remember last year I went off like a shot, trying to overtake as many females as I could and felt demoralised by being overtaken. This year I just popped a podcast on and found a nice comfy pace. I felt so relaxed! Don’t get me wrong though, I didn’t feel particularly well though. Photo credit: Alan Dunks

The miles seemed to tick by quite nicely and I just enjoyed zoning out and following the trail, through forests, across fields, up dirt tracks and over stiles. It’s a great course and keeps you interested the whole time. The only thing was that it was overgrown in certain areas so there were lots of brambles and stinging nettles whipping at you. My legs got savaged and my tummy got scratched as well.

As I knew what was coming in the course I was fully prepared for the huge hill around mile five. I had pre-planned to walk it rather than expend energy in trying to run up it. I power walked up and found it wasn’t too bad. Adjusting your expectation is key! I did have to shout to one poor bloke who was carrying on up (this is a big hill) rather than turning left, meaning he had gone up that hill further than necessary. Oops.

Photo credit: Alan Dunks

Then things became really pants. I suddenly felt a crippling stitch in my side. I tried to breathe differently and stretch my arms out (which has worked previously) but it stubbornly stayed. I felt really sick and the stitch was very painful. I had to stop. I bent over and just tried to breathe deeply. A guy ran past and asked if I was OK, I said I was, “just stitch”! I felt really disheartened and just pants. Even though it was just a training run I had been enjoying it. But this was not something to enjoy. For the next half a mile or so I had to run-walk to try and manage it. I even considering ringing my dad to say I’d had enough. But I thought I’d just keep trying and pushing forward. Time didn’t matter, but my ego did – I didn’t want a DNF!

A lovely man saw I was struggling and gave me some good advice while encouraging me forward. He told me to put my hands on my hips and keep breathing. This actually really helped (opening up my lungs?), as did the water stop that was around mile six. I fully stopped and made sure I drank enough – perhaps it was dehydration?

Then it was like I had a second wind – I felt good to go again! I caught up with the nice man and thanked him (though I did feel bad overtaking him) and eventually managed to see in the distance the guy that had originally overtaken me and asked if I was OK. Things were going well again!

The miles seemed to fly by and my legs felt strong. I didn’t feel like it was tough, it just felt like a nice run. I saw my dad at the mile 10 water stop which was nice. He looked a bit soggy but, as always, very pleased to see me and cheered me on.

A blip in the horizon!

I stopped again for water and told my dad I felt a bit sick but he just said “keep going” and I did.

I switched the podcast to music and pushed on. I felt myself speeding up and I went with it. The last three miles felt fantastic. Though on the last mile I finally caught up with the man and two others. We were going along a single file in the forest and I felt my speed dropping as I couldn’t get past. I was a bit frustrated as I was really into my flow. There was just about enough space to overtake if they moved over…so I shouted out as politely as I could, “Er fellas, is it OK to pass you guys?”

This didn’t seem to go down too well as they just grunted at me…but when a wider part appeared they did move over and I thanked them. Before I sound like a bit of a cow they were going significantly slower than me and there would have been enough space for me to pass…and, well, it is a race. I asked very politely and was nice about it. Anyway I said they’d probably catch me later anyway as it was likely I’d crash and burn.

^^Funny stats due to my Garmin satellite issues 🙁

Incidentally the man who originally asked if I was OK did catch up and sprinted past me to the finish. What was nice though was that at the finish he and the other two men I overtook each shook my hand and there seemed no hard feelings. Perhaps I misread the situation earlier?

My official time was 1:44:20. I genuinely couldn’t believe the time I’d finished as last year I did it in around 1:53 and was certain all my stopping and stitch issues would have slowed my time down significantly and I wasn’t racing. Because my Garmin hadn’t found satellites at the beginning my mile markers were out and I really had no idea how I was doing. I was over the moon! And I finished feeling strong, like I could have gone further. In fact, around mile 11 I asked myself if I could carry on to 26 miles and it didn’t seem impossible or daunting (yes OK probably wouldn’t have said that at mile 18!).

My mum was at the finish and she thought I was within top three females, which shocked me further. We had to wait for my dad for a bit to walk back so we were in no rush to head off. I grabbed a hot coffee and tried to keep warm in the drizzle (while obviously doing the standard post-race selfie…).

It was lovely having my mum there to chat about the race to and hear about what she’d been up to. She said she hadn’t been prepared for me to finish so quickly which is why when I ran past her on the final 100m she looked really shocked.

My dad arrived a short while later. We were all cold and decided to forgo any afternoon tea at the cafe (our original plan). Plus I felt incredibly sick and the mere sight of cake made me want to heave. I know, WHO AM I?!

As we wanted to head off I had to do a very awkward thing of finding out if I had won anything. It was such a horrible question to ask… I tried vaguely asking a marshal if she knew the results and got the standard reply “we’ll post them later” and then had to be a bit more specific and sound like a right arrogant so-and-so, “erm, no I mean, I wanted to know if I came any significant position? It’s just we’re a bit cold and need to know if we need to hang around for any prize givings…”. She took my bib number and disappeared. She returned shortly and told me yes I was due a prize. Ooooh!

I came second female! Two minutes behind first so there wasn’t any chance of getting first female! I won £25 vouchers for running gear, £10 off next year’s entry (it’s £13 to enter!) and a lovely glass diamond-shaped trophy. Not too shabby, eh!

On a slightly more negative note, I felt really sick afterwards. I couldn’t eat anything until 4pm. Though I did OK running when not feeling my best, it really impacted me in a nasty way afterwards. I don’t recommend it at all!

And my legs…oh my legs. So painful and itchy.

Have you ever surprised yourself with a performance you weren’t expecting?

Have you ever worked out/ran a race feeling hung-over?

What do you prefer: trail or road races? Hilly or flat?

May 13, 2015

Hackney Half Marathon (1:34:30)

In most marathon training plans that I’ve seen you tend to have a half marathon that you target a few weeks before the main even to race. I chose Hackney because it was a big race, it sounded good from recaps and what people have told me, and a few others from my club were going to run it too. And most importantly it was relatively flat.

My training has been going really well and I keep having to pinch myself that this isn’t a dream and that I am indeed successfully training for a marathon and (*TOUCH WOOD*) I haven’t had any set backs (please, running God, spare me!). My speed is coming back too so I wanted to see where I was at in a good half marathon. My PB (1:36:10) was from the Bristol half marathon in 2013 and since then I’ve just had set back after set back (with a few OK-ish races in between – and my marathons of course). But this was IT.

For the lead-up to the race, check out my last post HERE.

Source

The race started on the Hackney Marshes. Mike and Mark (two running club friends) were in a few pens behind Karen (another RC friend) and me. Our wave was the first one so we were pretty much over the line straight away around 9am.

I let Karen zoom off as to try and keep up with her would have been a huge mistake as she had the goal of a sub 1:30. I had a rough plan in my head of what paces I was aiming to hit and had a few goals:

DO NOT GET INJURED. This is not my goal race!
Be somewhere around my PB: I dreamed of anything sub 1:36, but actually would have been happy with 1:37-38.
Enjoy it.

I was near the 1:30 pacer at the start and getting out of the marshes and onto the roads was a little bottlenecked with people. I didn’t mind because this stopped me flying off with abandon. One guy loudly shouted “this isn’t a 1:30 pace is it!” – he said it twice and in a very arrogant obnoxious way. Fella, we’re thirty seconds into the race. CHILL OUT. Obviously I didn’t want to go with the pacer at all so let them fly off while I happily got into my own rhythm.

I had my music on and was feeling good. The sun was beating down but I felt comfortable. There were a couple of inclines at the start but I knew it wasn’t pancake flat from what people said so these weren’t a shock. I was also conscious of the breakfast I’d eaten. I’m not used to eating before running at all and it felt weird to feel that my stomach was full and porridge was jumping around inside. I didn’t feel sick, it just felt odd.

[Side note: I’ve realised it takes me a few miles to get into the groove – maybe this is why I prefer long distances to short distances? parkruns and 5ks feel far too quick for me…perhaps I need a longer warm-up for them?]

I noticed in the first mile there were a couple of people running along the pavements in the other direction with their bibs in their hands. Cutting it a bit fine?! This would hugely stress me out – in fact just seeing their panic was stressing me out!

There were loads of spectators all along the course, some with signs, clappers and Jelly Babies. And loads of kids wanting high-fives (always high five if you can – magic energy boosters!). Everyone really cheered you on as you ran past and it helped having your name printed on your bib, which was a nice touch. There were even people on roofs or hanging out of windows (or eating breakfast by their front door wearing onesies…) and a little corner shop handed out water. There was definitely a very strong community feel. It’s not exactly scenic as you’re running through Hackney town but the people made up for the lack of sights. There were always at least a few spectators everywhere along the course.

There were lots of people running but it never felt crowded for me. There were enough people to keep things interesting but not enough to trip you over or bottle you in. However when there came a point that we could see runners behind us as the course looped it was clear it was a lot more crowded in the two hour plus area, especially around the pacers. But not crazy crowded.

I kept an eye on my watch and the pace felt comfortable. I wondered if I could maintain this pace over 26.2 miles (7:20min/mile roughly). Er no I don’t think so! That made me feel better though as I realised I had so much less to run than a marathon!

I set myself milestones to get to: 10k, 8 miles for my gel and 10 miles for the stadium. I had a few sips of water at most water stations as it was warm and I was conscious of my last weekend’s headache but I didn’t feel thirsty. I had my gel (a High5 one) at mile 8 but on opening it it exploded a little in my hand (there’s a joke there I’m sure…). There was enough in it to still be OK but now my hands were really sticky.

Luckily I saw a drinks station not long after but realised it was Lucozade – not what I needed! And then I saw the volunteers had water in one hand and a Lucozade in the other. This was good but it meant trying to aim for water where someone else wasn’t going for the same and letting the volunteer know what you wanted – bit of a navigation job! But hydration and sticky hands were soon solved!

Everything was going well until mile 10 when I started to feel the occasional stitch. This panicked me as I had visions of having to stop like I did on a training run a few weeks ago (I had to stop four times for an annoying stitch). That would ruin any PB attempt. I stretched out my arms a bit (I looked crazy!) and breathed deeply as this had helped previously. I also took several sips of water and thankfully it disappeared for good. Now was the time I needed to push the pace. Just a parkrun to go (sort of).

We ran through the Olympic Park and we were completely un-shaded from the sun now so it felt very hot. The Olympic Park wasn’t that exciting but it was different and I was now concentrating on keeping my pace up. I knew my pacing had gone well so far but I tried not to think about potential times and what I could achieve so I wouldn’t get too excited or freak out.

Just before 13 miles a man asked me how far we had to go. I looked at my watch and saw it was 12.8 miles…honestly the brain power it took to work out the maths was unreal. I managed to give him a rough answer before apologising for my maths skills. Then suddenly I could see the 13 mile marker and the finish not long after. Time to hammer down.

Manic determination

I saw the clock ticking to almost 1:35 and pushed through to the end. DONE. I looked at my watch and couldn’t believe it! I had PB’ed by 1 minute and 40 seconds!! I was over the moon.

A kind spectator took my photo for me and said well done – I could have burst with happiness at this point!

The photo above is hilarious as I hadn’t seen the man behind. I’m sure he’s OK as his friend doesn’t look too bothered haha!

According to my Garmin I ran an average of 7:14min/mile pace which was around where I was hoping. I didn’t feel like death afterwards either. In fact I felt surprisingly OK and, most importantly, niggle and injury free. Can I get a HALLELEUIGH! The race wasn’t easy but I’d describe it as comfortably tough. My long runs are paying off I think.

I came 762nd out of 10, 268 (40th in my category position)! I’m very chuffed!

Karen sadly didn’t achieve her sub 1:30 but let’s put this into perspective. She ran Southampton Half a few weeks ago and smashed a great time there despite tummy issues and has been a bit full-on with smashing every race she does (she’s like a machine). She’s got it in her for definite as her PB is like mere seconds from sub 1:30. She did the sensibly thing though when mid-way she realised it wasn’t going to happen and decided to enjoy the race instead.

The boys did great too. They ran together and achieved a time of around 1:50. But sadly calf cramp caught Mike out again towards the end. He’s been drinking lots of nuun (“having a nun” he says!), wearing his calf guards and taking magnesium tablets so it’s a little frustrating. He’s going to try doing more race pace long runs now to see if that helps as he doesn’t do any. Finger’s crossed!

Deep concentration – thanks Karen!

And then we checked out the goodie bags…

It was a very good goodie bag! Banana, Bounce snack, Border biscuits, The Dormen raisin mix, nakd bar (yum), Soft & Chew cereal bar, Fruit Snack Nuggets (fruit sweet things), Little Miracles black tea drink, Popchips, squidgy stress ball and a technical T-shirt. I got an extra small and it’s still a little too big as (like most races) they’re made for men. But still a great amount of decent freebies! And the medal is big and chunky.

The 3 mile walk back wasn’t quite as enjoyable as the walk there but it did keep the legs loose. Our hotel had kindly let us check out slightly later so we could shower which was fantastic. And then a 2 hour car journey home (with the obligatory stop at Starbucks!).

Sadly I still had my housework to do but after getting all that guff done and Alfie walked after his return, I sat down and enjoyed this bad boy.

A slice of toffee apple cake from my Freezer Cake store. Some things in life are perhaps not meant to be together, but cake and running most certainly are. I enjoyed every single mouthful.

How do you celebrate an achievement?

How do you stay cool in a warm race?

What’s the best thing you’ve received in a goodie bag?

May 12, 2015October 28, 2016

Hackney mini-break

I am buzzing. I had such a fantastic weekend full of lovely people, good food and my first (non-marathon) PB since 2013. To say I’m pleased is an understatement!

So the weekend started, as normal, with parkrun at Netley Abbey. For the first time in the year we were on the faster course, which is five laps of a cricket pitch. Fairly boring and repetitive but, crucially, flat. It’s called the “marmite course” as you can imagine.

Annoyingly I couldn’t attempt to blast it as I had the Hackney Half Marathon the next day that I needed to save my legs for. However I did go faster than I should have. I remember looking at my watch and seeing 7.30min/mile and thinking it felt comfortable enough that I could chat to Mark, my running club friend who was running with me, but wondering if I maintain it (and faster) for so many more miles? I started to doubt myself a little bit. It was a good run nonetheless (22:25) though it did start raining at the end.

I had such good intentions of getting all my housework done before leaving for Hackney later that day but time just flew away. I got home, showered, breakfasted, picked up a parcel and packed and saw my parents as they picked up Alfie and suddenly it was only an hour from when I was to be picked up by Mike who was driving Karen, Mark (different to the previous Mark) and me to our hotel in Hackney. I hadn’t done any of my normal jobs! This did plague me a little as I hate leaving the house with chores left to do, knowing I’d need to do them the next day post-race…

I’ve never been to Hackney before so it was all very new and strange to me when we got there. I’ve been to London a few times but obviously London is a big place and there are so many different areas. Hackney is very culturally and ethnically diverse. There were so many shops selling food and bits and bobs I’d never heard of. Our hotel wasn’t in the most affluent area so it was a bit of an eye opener to me (I fully admit I live in a middle class bubble – it’s just how I’ve grown up and I know I am very, very lucky).

Despite our hotel (Ibis Style) being very cheap and not being in the safest area, our rooms were lovely. Karen and I were sharing one, and Mark and Mike shared another. They were James Bond themed which was quite cool.

But what does the top right stencil mean??

It was very clean and modern – though it was a little loud in the evening with a few boy racers and police sirens. And most importantly, it wasn’t too far from the race start in Hackney Marshes.

After checking in and dumping our stuff we decided to head to the nearby Westfield shopping centre for a little mosey about the shops and some food. The last time I was there was in 2013 when I did the National Lottery 5 mile run around the Olympic park and Olympic Stadium (also with Karen funnily enough). It felt surreal being back for another race.

It’s massive. So many shops! And shops that aren’t on normal UK high streets either, like Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, American Eagle…Karen and I were in heaven. The boys not so much 😉 We also depressed ourselves by looking in Nike. So many beautiful things but so expensive. I did get these shorts in Forever 21 though:

I’m really chuffed with them because I found them online last week and really wanted to buy them but didn’t want to pay P&P for just one pair of £12 shorts. They also have a zip at the back which is so handy as my other shorts don’t. I was tempted to wear them for the race the next day but thought it best not trial a new pair of shorts for the first time during a half marathon.

We then found a brilliant restaurant called Cabana Brasil which just sounded right up my street. I was secretly quite glad we weren’t going for the (in my opinion) boring option of just pizza or pasta but it hurt my soul not to be able to order the full rack of ribs. Especially when I saw someone else enjoying them. Major food envy!

Instead I went for nachos with guacamole to start and then a garlic marinating chicken skewer with sweet potato fries for my main – safe food. Although it was all very tasty, I was a bit disappointed with the size of the main, especially as I had to add in the sweet potato fries. For my monster appetite it wasn’t really enough! I couldn’t help but steal some fries from Karen who has a far more lady-like appetite and was feeling full with the same meal.

We all went for pudding though and honestly it rocked my world. The boys had a delicious looking cheesecake, Karen went for a frozen yogurt with toppings and I had a frozen yogurt sundae (with brownie chunks and chocolate sauce).

Frozen yogurt sundae?! Good lord, it was good.

The boys had a cheeky Starbucks before we left and we got to admire the cool London 2012 Olympics display they’d created.

Different Olympic athletes had signed a cup! It was fascinating to read what they wrote and who they were. Admittedly there were a lot from Team USA…what? Americans liking Starbucks coffee – surely not! Hehe 😉

Then we headed back to the hotel and had a master plan meeting for the next day: what time to get up, breakfast, leave, etc. Then we headed to bed. I wasn’t nervous and fell asleep quite easily surprisingly.

But then the stress began when the alarm went off the next morning at 6.20am. Not my alarm, but Karen’s alarm because my phone had decided to turn off and not turn back on at all. PANIC. I went into Full Anna Melt Down. No phone means no contact with anyone (what if I got lost on my own in Hackney!?), no music during the race and no photos. My phone has been playing up recently with the touch pad going crazy and either not working or just randomly typing so I did a full restore on Friday but now I had no idea what was going on.

Mike came to the rescue with his excellent Googling abilities while my dad (on Karen’s phone) calmed me down. I managed to wolf down some instant porridge and a shot of Beet It with a black coffee through my pathetic drama thankfully. I chose not to have the breakfast that came with our rooms as I wasn’t sure they’d have porridge (they didn’t) so I brought my own.

I strangely enjoy the Beet It shots. I love beetroot so maybe that’s it? The shot is very earthy but also sweet with a hint of lemon they add to make it a bit more palatable.

Karen and I made the executive decision to wear crop tops instead of our Hedge End Running Club vests because it was already warm despite not even being 7.30am and the forecast said it would be hot and sunny later. I was quite nervous about wearing a crop top as I’ve never run in one before and I was worried people would think I thought I was some sort of elite or I thought a lot of myself. I was glad Karen was with me as I’m not sure I’d have had the courage to have worn it without her! But honestly it was the best decision I made – I felt very streamlined and cool (temperature wise!) wearing it while running and was grateful to not have a vest flapping about me.

I applied sun tan lotion all over me as I knew I’d burn or risk overheating (despite wearing next to nothing!) and wore a long-sleeved top and leggings to walk down to the start that I could put in my bag for the bag-drop.

Our walk took us along a pretty canal

The walk was about three miles and it helped calm my nerves and loosen us up.

As we got closer we saw more and more runners and began hearing the music. It was all very exciting!

There were loads of food stalls in the race village and I instantly zoned in on the rib stand! I mean, come on, how mean is this?? I can’t have them before and undoubtedly I wouldn’t fancy them afterwards *sighs*.

The place was buzzing with people stretching, warming-up and milling around. We headed straight to the portable loos as we knew they’d get very busy closer to the start (we got there about 45 minutes before the 9am start). Then we peeled our layers off and headed to the bag drop. It was very well organised so no complaints!

We wrote a message on the Brooks chalk board (“Come on Hedgies #HERC”) and had a standard pre-race photo. I still felt very nervous about wearing pretty much nothing but saw quite a few other ladies wearing similar tops so this helped. As did this…

Very amusing!

Karen and I parted ways with the boys so we could visit the loos once more and then go to our pens. The guys were aiming for 1:45-1:50 and Karen was aiming for sub 1:30 (yep, she is that fast) and I was aiming for anywhere near 1:36 (my PB being 1:36:10).

The loo queues were massive and we wouldn’t have had time to queue as our pen was going off first (I say our pen but really I mean Karen’s pen as it was the 1:15-1:30 but we wanted to start together, though, crucially, not run together for my sake!!) Anyway, we decided to find a bush instead and as we went round the back of the loos we saw a lone portable loo sat on a trailer. No one was near it and on closer inspection it looked perfectly fine. What a find, eh! Though it did slightly rock when you were in there as it was on a trailer – we just made sure not to lock the door in case it fell over or something. Could you imagine?!

And then the race happened 😉 I’ll recap that fully in another post. Stay tuned (or something as equally as cheesy…).

Are you calm or stressed on the morning of a race?

What’s your usual go-to pre-race meal? (Breakfast or dinner!)

Have you seen a lot of London?

July 23, 2014October 28, 2016

Stansted Slog Half Marathon

There is absolutely no other way to describe this half marathon but by it’s apt title – The Slog. That is the first word that came to my mind on finishing.

A few of our running friends mentioned this half to Ben and me and persuaded us to do it (who am I kidding that I need persuading to do a half marathon? Favourite distance!) It’s described as off-road, challenging and undulating/hilly. I’d go ahead and remove the word undulating and just stick with plain old hilly. Going into this I had only one real goal: to finish uninjured. I had a soft goal of finishing in under 2:15 but finishing uninjured was most important.

That is some sweet elevation. Maybe nothing compared to some hardened hill-loving runners out there, but for this road racer it was a shock.

My main worry was flaring my hip issue up again. Remember Endure? Yeah off-road stuff doesn’t seem to help things. But all body parts felt good so I thought just give it a bash, have some fun and enjoy the scenery. It’s not a goal race for me and I needed to do 13 miles.

With Ben’s mum and my parents in tow, Ben and me headed to the lovely Stansted House in Havant on Sunday morning.

We met up with a small number of fellow Hedgies and enjoyed the very lovely facilities. Not a portable loo in sight.

It was all very relaxed, friendly and had a local feeling to it. There was a marathon relay going on but there was only 150ish runners for the half.

Lovely and informal

At 10.30am we stood in a huddle at the start and the race director counted down and shouted “go!”

I bombed it straight away. Hear me out, my logic was “run as fast as you can while you’re able”. I knew the elevation would rip into me so I thought I’d go for it while I could. The two mum’s cheered us on (then headed to the coffee shop, bless them. My dad had already headed out to his spectator spot further on).

The first few miles were through woodland area and it instantly felt like one of my much loved (*cough*) RR10s so my speed was somewhat limited. Well ,what was I expecting?

Depressingly several women overtook me almost straight away. Massive respect to them though, I didn’t see them again for the rest of the race. I saw my dad at this point. I love my dad but why does he feel the need to tell me how many girls are in front of me? Like I’m going to catch them?! He’s as competitive as me!

Anyway mile two came and another girl overtook me and stayed just ahead. We played a bit of position-swapping for a while until I managed to absolutely cane it on a downhill and get enough distance between us to not see her again.

Mile five was an absolute BEAST. We hit this mountain hill and I made a feeble attempt to continue running and realised it was causing more harm then good. Everyone else had started walking so I joined in. No shame.

As we finally got to the top, we ran freely across some fields with such beautiful views. I had my phone and I thought if ever there was a time for a race selfie, now’s it.

A man ran past me and saluted my photo taking. He even offered to take one of me but I declined, very kind of him though.

Finger on lens sorry – best I could do while still running!

I don’t remember every single mile, but there was lots of running through fields, up and over stiles, through kissing gates, up hill and after hill. I broke the race into three parts. There was a drinks station just before 3 miles, half way and just before 9 miles. So I went with those segments, knowing at mile 10 the significant hills had finished and it was just a parkrun left.

I didn’t bother looking at my watch because a) the mile markers were out from it (as expected) and b) my pace was all over the place with the hills. So I just put in some effort and tried to keep going. I won’t lie, before halfway I wanted to stop. It was very warm and I was being destroyed by the inclines. I should have taken water with me as I was desperately thirsty between the drinks stations. And my heart rate monitor was chafing so much so that I had to take it off.

I had taken some mango puree with me to try on the race in place of a gel.

Yep it’s baby food. I’m experimenting, what can I say? But I didn’t fancy it at all. With the hot weather it would be warm mango puree. Yeah no thanks.

I saw my dad again at the last drinks station and was far happier by this point. He asked if I was on target but I didn’t know how to answer as I didn’t really have a target. It was nice to see him and I gave him the mango puree and my sweaty HR monitor as a thank you 😉

The drinks stations were so different to what I usually find at road racers. I would usually grab one and keep running as I drink. But everyone would fully stop at the station, grab a drink and almost leisurely drink it before toddling on. I followed suit – lovely and relaxed!

I got back on the trail and was off again. I was in such good spirits at this point. I was surviving! I wasn’t able to catch another woman ahead of me sadly – though we also played the overtake game as well. She was amazing at the uphills and by the end she was a blip in the horizon. By this point I was firmly set in my position and was happy to remain that way following the people in front. The runners were very stretched out though so sadly no in-race conversation happened. It felt a bit lonely at times.

On the last mile I was visualising the 13 mile marker that we saw when we drove in towards the car park. The last mile was all through woodland on a narrow path and I knew when we got out of there I’d see the sign and it would be the home straight. I saw a family walking ahead and they kindly moved to the side. I ran past and shouted “one mile left!” they cheered and laughed.

I broke free of the lovely shade and saw the mile marker and the two mums. They clapped and cheered and it was brilliant. Then a nice 500m downhill to the finish.

Whew! I got as much water as I could and then stumbled back to the two mums to collapse in a heap and cheer the other runners on.

I felt exhausted! But in a good way.

My official time was 1:53:09 and fifth female. What I’m really chuffed about is that I beat my target and I beat my half marathon time from last year’s off-road crazy hilly Cheddar Gorge race (I think I got 1:58 something). But I found it so much harder than Cheddar Gorge. There were just so many uphills and inclines.

Ben ran past and we cheered him on. He finished in 2:09:16.

He didn’t have a great race. His ankle is still not 100% and it was fairly uneven underfoot. Ben also doesn’t run well (his words not mine) in the heat. He really struggles when it gets too hot. But considering he did Cheddar Gorge in 2:52 he did amazingly.

The other Hedgies did so well too. All coming in not long after. Everyone agreed it was brutal. We were all shattered and sort of broken.

My heart rate monitor had ravaged my chest and was so painful.

Apologies for the tummy shot!

OK it doesn’t look that brutal there at all but I assure you it is raw and even worse under the sports bra – like hideous. I almost cried in the shower later when the water hit it. So so painful. I had tried the Polar HR monitor strap a few days previously with the Garmin monitor bit as I’d heard that was better but it kept popping off. I really like wearing it though for the extra data. I need more Vaseline I think (or any, I’d forgotten to put some on…). Good job I’m not going anywhere requiring a bikini!!

As some consolation, I managed to swag a bit of birthday cake that had been presented to one of the runners pre-race.

All was well again in my world!

My dad appeared a little while after Ben had finished. He’d walked a fair way to see us at that 10 mile point and had just made it back. I’m so proud of him for walking so far and trying to be more healthy (he’s trying to lose weight) and also so grateful for him being so supportive of our running. But when he moaned to me about his one blister, I may have wanted to punch him.

On leaving the race the race director told us to wait as he grabbed two platters of cake to give us and thanked us all (the Hedge End guys) for coming. How nice is that??

That bread pudding was AMAZING

And then we all said goodbye and the parents and us headed to find food for lunch. At this point I was actually OK without food considering I’d just eaten two bits of cake fairly quickly and I’m never that hungry post race.

We found a lovely pub in Rowlands Castle (disappointingly, there is no castle) and I had a nice goat’s cheese and beetroot salad which ordinarily I might have scoffed at as it was quite small with literally four ingredients (leaves, bit of onion, goat’s cheese, beetroot). But it was perfect for my cake-filled (though heart-rate monitor ravaged) tummy.

I have to say all in all this race was the hardest race I’ve ever done. The heat, hills and uneven terrain just killed any sort of speed and killed my legs. But it was challenging in a way that invigorated me. Pace isn’t everything in a race. The scenery, the camaraderie, the feeling of completing something bloody hard just made the race for me. Everyone nodding to each other at the end like “we survived, we are invincible”. You can’t buy that feeling of accomplishment.

What’s the hardest race you’ve ever done?

Do you wear a HR monitor – does it ever chafe you? How do you solve this??

If you had to choose hills and cool weather or heat and flat, what would you choose?

March 3, 2014March 4, 2014

Reading Half Marathon

Hello lovelies. Well, I am shattered! Ben and me completed the Reading half marathon yesterday and it was great. We survived! Hurrah! Here’s my recap of the race.

It feels crazy that it was only last year I ran this half marathon and it was my first proper race. I trained for like 12 weeks for it. Now it’s part of my marathon training. Honestly, I would never have believed you a year ago if you’d told me that.

Saturday evening we both had a pizza to carb it up and had a nice early night.

My standard chicken, veg and BBQ sauce – hold the cheese

The alarm went off at 6.15am. I quickly walked Alfie, got ready, had breakfast (porridge) and a coffee. My parents and Ben’s mum arrived and we were off to Reading.

I decided to go with my shorts and compression socks again as I felt so comfortable in them and liked the extra support that I find the socks give. But I was a bit chilly and thankful for my parents so I could wear my jacket and then hand it over to them at the last minute.

The race village was cool with a huge inflatable shoe. It was very busy. We saw Tony the Fridge (top right picture) who was running the half marathon with a fridge on his back for charity. What an inspiration!

Then we said goodbye to the parents and headed to our waves. By this point I had had three pees and I would then queue up for another pee in our wave (we had a lot of time). That’s got to be a record for me.

Oh we were so cold waiting to start. It was also fairly late starting. We did the group warm-up and then we waited for another five or so minutes, by which time we were cold again.

Then we were off. I have to say mile one to mile three weren’t great for me. I felt they were a slog. It was very busy with the amount of people but this kept my speed down so I didn’t shoot off which I was pleased about. There’s a huge temptation in the big races to let the excitement get to you but luckily this was not the case. There were a few inclines and I just felt that it was a lot of hard work so soon.

We got into Reading University and I started to get into it. My paces were coming down and I felt comfortable and strong. I grabbed a water from the water station. It might be because I’m a bit slow but I serious issues with these water things. I say ‘things’ because they’re not bottles, they’re like pouches of water. I didn’t really know how to get the water out so squeezed it in my mouth and then got choked by a gush of water. I spent the next 30 seconds almost dying.

I’d say miles four to eight I was happy. I was enjoying the crowds, my music, the bands, the atmosphere. It felt comfortably hard but I was in the racing zone.

I saw the parents at mile seven which was lovely.

Miles nine to the end were when I had to put my head down and push on. I had had a gel at mile eight and was now counting down the miles.

The stretch at mile 11 down the dual carriageway was hard going. The wind was in our faces.

Hilarious side story: a man (I say man because he was at youngest 18, but potentially early twenties) was running alongside me. His family were ahead and cheered him on. His mother (probably in her late 50s) starts running alongside him yelling encouragement at him. This continues for about 30 seconds to a minute. The guy just looks like he wants to die. It was hilarious. I think everyone around thought it was somewhat amusing.

Then that horrible incline into the Madejski Stadium and a great finish into the crowds cheering.

My official time was 1:39:35, 2275th. I’m quite happy with that. My two goals were to beat last year’s time and hopefully to get a sub 1:40. There was no way I could get a PB at my current fitness level and also Reading was never a goal race.

Ben got 1:46:12, 3847th – a PB by six minutes. That boy is on fire!

We went to the lovely Jamie’s Italian for lunch (more on that in another post) after getting changed. Ahh the great joy of getting changed in the back of a car…

Then when we got home I had a lovely hot shower (nothing quite like it after a hard race where you’re freezing afterwards). And then a horrific ice bath.

But with a cup of tea and good reading material it wasn’t so bad…ha.

I think I’m done with Reading now. I’d like to do Silverstone or Bath next year I think. I’ve enjoyed running Reading but it’s not that scenic and when you’ve done it a couple of times it’s sort of done and dusted. I’d definitely recommend it though: great crowd support pretty much all round, very popular so you’re never running alone, brilliant finish in the stadium, nice goodie bag (snacks and cotton T-shirt) and the best medal I’ve had in a while!

Thank you Reading, it’s been great 😉

What did you get up to this weekend?

What’s your favourite half marathon (or race)?

How do you recover from a race? It’s all about food for me, then showering, then ice bathing. Then NOTHING.