Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon

[Marek]

Ok, so not exactly relevant for cycling website, but I did the Tunbridge Wells Half on Sunday morning. Was feeling a little bit worried about the event on the day as had been up reasonably late the night before as was hosting a table at the Rugger at Twickenham and didn't get back till late, but kept it under control and only succumbed to two pints of Guinness.

On the morning it was bitterly cold, went outside to check what to wear and decided that I would run with a base layer, a cycling top (I like wearing cycle tops to running events as when you beat real runners they get upset : )) arm warmers and long leggins and also some light gloves.

Got to the race early so sat about in the car for a bit to stay warm before heading down to the start line. Well over 2000 entries so a bit of a squeeze but I managed to get right up to the front so that I could start with the 1hr 30min pacemakers. After 10 mins of standing about and waiting for the Mayor to set us off we got going. The pacemakers got into their tempo and i actually felt pretty comfortable. I probably could have run a bit quicker but decided to stick at their pace as they had a schedule for each mile to take account of the hills to come later in the race. After a few miles I was starting to feel the pain, I have done a fair bit of run training recently but not too many longer runs at race pace so it was a bit of a hit it and hope type event for me. The miles ticked by and then at about mile 6 or 7 we hit Penshurst where the road starts to tilt upwards a bit, not too bad at first but then comes the big hill that takes you up towards the A264. This is a long hill but there are lots of spectators cheering you on, I kinda lost the pacemakers a bit here, they were a little in front of me, about 100 yards or so but I had them pegged.

At the top of the hill we turn to go back towards Tunbridge Wells. I managed to put in a bit of a sustained effort and get back onto the pacemakers, there were now only a couple of people that were stuck with them left, a lot of the guys who had started with the group got left behind on the hill even though the pacers had done an excellent job of taking it back a notch on the hill. I had a word with them both and said I had never gone under 1hr 30mins and would be great if they could keep me going. They were really encouraging and told me to stick in was looking strong and had done most of the hard parts. Going back towards Tunbridge Wells there was one more hill with about 2 miles to go, we ticked up it quite nicely and then last mile was pretty much flat to slightly downhill. I managed to just about get in front of the pacers and come in with a time of 1hr 29 mins and 20 seconds.

Am really chuffed, have done a load of half marathons over the years and have always been a few minutes off the 1hr 30 time, so now I am a sub, really pleased but can hardly walk today. Very sore legs but a big smile and pretty pleased with myself.

Cheers

Marek....

[Toks]

A great report as always Marek. Chapeau on your PB too