That’s the first race of the year done! The Llanelli half-marathon is a good, early part of the year, running benchmarking test for me, although I don’t think it’s entirely comparable with the old course. I’m not sure about the new course; it’s not that quick, it’s nice enough, but it’s not great for spectators. Except that they should have more access to cafe’s now. And the chance of a second breakfast while waiting for us runners to come back.
I started a way back with a club mate, James Nunn, and I think we managed to avoid starting too fast by chatting for the first mile. Always a good way to start a race. The wind was a wee bit southerly, and maybe a bit more easterly than that. James’ pace picked up and I stuck to my own pace as we climbed over a short railway bridge hillock and onto the cycle path.
The run out felt good, and I run on this section of the path fairly often so I think I had a good idea of where to run to keep it fast. The surface is slippery and gravelly in places. There didn’t seem to be anyone playing golf on the Machynys course as we ran past it. At the sight of the sea the wind hit, and a good tailwind pushed us out to the teletubby hill with an added sandy section this year. Starting a little way back in the field meant I was passing people all the way from start to finish, and I was glad of the cross country running that I’ve been doing as it let me keep pushing forwards through the sandy bits. It was only short.
Over the hill and we didn’t run all the way to the roundabout for the turn. Back over the hill and I’d made it in to the group that I’d wanted to get into to avoid the headwind. Unfortunately the pace was a bit too low, so I pushed on to another guy, hid from the wind for a while, and then went past gradually to take the wind off him. I was hoping to work together through the windy stretch but he didn’t stay on. From there I pushed hard through the wind and hard all the way to the finish. I felt a lot stronger this year than last year, and had a good negative split race.
It was good to see lots of students also running this race after I had turned back and we started passing each other. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Showing again how important it is to push for those last few km and all the way to the line I finished in 1:20:58 by my watch, which I thought was 1 minute faster than last year but turns out to be pretty much the same time. Some good signs though, a good test, and really good fun. I think I enjoyed that all the way around! Next!
