Time/Position: 1.24.47 (31st from 734 [2nd V55])
My slowest road half for many years, decades actually. There were a number of reasons, but by far the main one was that I was just too conservative with my pacing. I was conscious that I had blown on Friday, and had a painful experience at Manchester in April. I was also anticipating a headwind battering at various points on the route as it was an unseasonably windy day. Finally, it was very hard to get a sense of where I was in the field, with two races combined meaning it was confusing in places. As a result of all this, I didn't pay much attention to my pace, and felt very comfortable throughout. This, of course, is because I was actually running at marathon pace, not half pace! After an interesting start over the old Runcorn bridge, the route heads through unglamorous industrial estates before a surprisingly rural loop through Hale Village and beyond, a little hilly and windy in places, but the anticipated headwind battering never really materialised. I got a little confused on the second lap, and for a while thought I was on the wrong route, but all became clear eventually and I finally sped up a little on the three mile run in back to the bridge. The last mile was probably the hardest on the route, with a climb up to the bridge and a strong headwind. All in all, a bit of a strange one and a missed opportunity to record a decent time in the new category.
No comments:
Post a Comment