Llanelli Half-Marathon Race Report

I ran my first half-marathon race on Sunday, at Llanelli. Here are my mile splits:
Mile 1: 6:14
Mile 2: 6:43
Mile 3: 6:37
Miles 4 & 5: 13:04 (missed the mile marker, about 6:32 min/miles)
Mile 6: 6:01
Mile 7: 6:06
Mile 8: 6:02
Mile 9: 6:17
Mile 10: 6:22
Mile 11: 6:32
Mile 12: 6:30
Mile 13: 6:32
Last little bit: 0:35
It was a very windy and wet day, and the weatherman said we were due 25mph winds blowing from the west with 35mph gusts. This meant that the first few miles went out into a tough head wind and from the start I was keen to get into the back of a strong, fast pack. When we hit the first marker and everyone’s watches beeped you could sense the, “oh crap, too fast” from us all as we saw our first split. The next couple of miles were much more sensible, but the group got smaller as those uncomfortable with the pace dropped out the back, and my old bike racing skills kept me watching gaps and staying on heels. We rotated around, sharing the wind out, but we got thinner and thinner until we were spread out in pairs or singles.

You can see from the splits that we got the tailwind from mile 6 to 8 and I tried to make the most of it. Given the fact that you don’t get all the time back from a tailwind that you lost to the headwind, you can see how hard we ran into that wind. Knowing that the last 2 or 3 miles would be back into the headwind made for tricky pace choices too, but I flew happily through the start/finish area at mile 8. A gel went down easily and the volunteers at the water stations did a superb job, getting bottles to each of us even though were were running fast and close together. Miles 9 and 10 took us into a crosswind that tried to pull your legs sideways and drag you down, but I was feeling pretty good. I wanted to catch the 3 guys in front of me before the turn back into the wind so pushed the effort in mile 10, but I was feeling so awesome with 3 to go that once I’d caught them the pace felt way too easy.
There’s this little guy in the back of my head. He tells me to do things that hurt. Luckily, so far, he’s only talked me into masochistic tasks, and when I rounded the bend into the wind I could hear him rumbling, “Go on, bring the pain, bring the pain“. I got a huge grin as I moved out of the group’s wind shadow, leant into it and upped the pace. That guy in my head rewarded me by dumping some wonderful chemicals into my brain that are already a fading memory, and I caught and passed runner, after runner, after runner. When I hit the end of mile 12, still facing into a strong cross/head wind the pain was building and weakness was threatening. But, hey, with 1 mile to go that’s how I’m supposed to feel, and it was easy to visualise the final mile of my tempo workout route and its finishing marker.
I caught another runner and he latched onto my shoulder as I passed him. As we reached the last rise I eased pace to get into his draft (hey, I’m an old sprinter on the bike and old habits die really hard). We both pushed hard over the top and down the other side, and he wasn’t going to give any ground back. I stayed tight to his shoulder but by the final turn there was no way I could give any more. As I crossed the finish I felt awesome, and was standing around saying “hi” to Kim and congratulating the runners around me as the wave of weakness dropped from my head to my feet. I had to hold on to the railings to stay up as Kim snapped photos (now on Flickr). Nice!
I finished the race in 19th position at 1:23:38. As my first race at this distance it was a new time and a new experience for my records, but I’m still surprised by how good I felt all the way round, and by how much I had left to give for the last few miles. I’ve learnt a lot more about “feel” over the last couple of years (largely from playing golf, believe it or not) and the weather for this race forced me to think less about the numbers and more about how I felt. I was so chuffed by the time, as the time I’d hoped for was minutes slower than this. When I saw my placing (out of 1170 finishers!) I was doubly chuffed.
I’m planning a couple more half-marathons this summer, one of which I may semi-peak for, and a couple of 10Ks before the Dublin marathon. If I stay healthy I’m very interested to see what else these legs can do.
For interest, below is my data from race day. I was spot on for effort with respect to heart rate, and a lot of my pre race planning paid off.