Belfast Half Marathon.(13.10 Miles / 01:50:20 / 00:08:25 per mile / HRZ 4)
Overall 919th / 3253 M40 Category 160th / 351
Being only 5 weeks out from the Dublin marathon, this event offered the ideal opportunity to test out the legs and get a good paced Half marathon under my belt and then kick off the last phase of my training for Dublin.
The event touted itself as the first ever Belfast Half Marathon (however, there is a little controversy over this fact) so it would be nice to be in the first running of it and the course promised to be pretty flat. This in itself is a novelty for me as every other half marathon I have ever done was hilly.
Preparation during the week had gone well with two runs of six miles each completed at a pace which is way above my normal Zone 2 training pace. I managed to knock them out in 8.20 per mile and 8.40 per mile.
(Incidentally I also had two very successful swim sessions and continued to improve my 750M swim split, bring it down now to 14.23 – the swims this week were 1000M and 1250M)
The experience of these runs had me really doubting if I could hold a pace to get near my current PB time of 01:50:55. Running at sub 8.30 per mile felt tough and I was realistically thinking that 1Hr55M would be a decent time based on the bulk of my training being at 9.30 per mile and slower.
The great thing about being part of the Tri Club is that there is usually someone else doing an event and it’s great to meet up before or share lifts to the race.Very kindly, Keith picked me up and we met up with Big Andy and Mark from the club also and headed down to the venue.
This was to be Keith’s first Half Marathon and we both planned to run together, although secretly I suspected he would be leaving me along the way.
The organisers did a great job and there was a really good atmosphere at the start line and well over 3000 entrants lined up to toe the start line.
The route was a pretty good circuit around the City Centre and surrounds up until about mile 6 and then it moved out of the City Centre and towards the University area and on to the Botanic gardens before moving along the Tow path for the finish at the recently refurbished Mary Peters track.
Weather conditions were perfect for the race. It was dry, slightly overcast and warm enough for this time of year and time of the morning.
Keith and I got of to a very steady start running together and let Andy and Mark head off as they were planning on runs around the 1.40 - 1.45 times. It’s been a while since I ran any distance with another person and I found the company great and the chat and banter between us meant that we cracked through 10K and held a steady 8.25 average pace the whole way and barely even noticed the miles pass. Same story through to 9 miles and at this point we were on the Tow path where I noticed the pace start to pick up a wee bit.This could have been due to the bunching of the crowd on the narrower Tow Path and the need to accelerate through the gaps in the crowd as they emerged.
By 11 miles it looked as though a 1.52 finish was well on the cards and 1.50 could be possible if we pushed on a bit.At Mile 12 my lack of pace work was beginning to bite me and I had to hang on to Keith for the last mile and he did a great job of keeping me with him.
The sting in the tail is the last 0.2 mile to the finish which is a moderately steep trail up to the back of the running track.I lost Keith on this as he was going strong up the hill but I got caught behind a couple of other runners and a lady pushing a child in a buggy up the hill. I got through a gap but Keith was too far ahead of me to catch on the hill.
In all honesty I don’t think my legs had enough left to keep up with him on the hill even I hadn’t been held up.
As I cleared the top of the hill and entered the running track, the finish line was at eh end of the 100M straight and I knew that I had a decent cushion of seconds to try and get a decent time. I put on a spurt to try and catch up to Keith but he obviously had the same idea and he took off as well.
Crossing the line I knew that I probably could not have given anything else and that I had had a really good run.
The finish time of 01:50:20 was a 35 sec PB and although it doesn’t seem like much to knock 21 secs of to go sub 1.50 – I don’t know where I could have found it.
On reflection I am delighted with the PB as it was unexpected and it also hopefully puts me in good standing for the last few weeks run up to the Dublin Marathon.
I’m pretty desperate to get a PB in Dublin as this will be my 11th stand along Marathon and my PB was set back in 2008 in Barcelona, which was my 3rd Marathon. I think it’s about time I showed some improvement.
My best is 4.21.I am going to put it out there that I would like to do 4.15 this time around.It’ll be tough but I am hopeful that if I can stay injury free it is a possibility. Time will tell.
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