I was hoping to get close to 1:45, which would have meant an 8 minute mile pace. After the first mile, I knew that pace was too fast, with the heat and not feeling 100%. Also the furthest I had run in the last few weeks was 9 miles, so probably not enough, but I've been recovering from the Hamburg Marathon on 29th April so haven't done many longer runs. Settled down to 8:30 pace, although at mile 4 I felt good and speeded up to an 8 min mile pace. The course then went onto a long straight uphill run without any shade. At 6 miles there was a water station, which I was really glad to get to. Had a few sips and the rest went over my head to cool down. Next 2 miles I slowed down even further and did these 2 at 9 min / mile pace. I then had some jelly babies, but they were a bit old and hard !
From 9 miles I was determined to beat my time set at the Peterborough Great Eastern back in October, as I know I'm fitter now and the Hamburg Marathon has made me more confident in my abilities and my pain threshold has increased ! A half marathon can't possibly be as hard as the last 4 or 5 miles of a marathon ! It was still hot, though and I saw a runner near the end who was in a bad shape. I heard afterwards it was quite serious and he had to be taken to hospital. He's ok now, thankfully. Pushed on and completed in 1:53:34, a 25 year best !
You can see from the picture it was hard and I was glad to finish. Felt exhausted for the rest of the day, but was pleased with my performance, considering I wasn't quite ready for the race.
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