The Paddock Wood Half Marathon has mixed memories for me. My first visit in 2004 was supposed to be part of my build up to that year’s London Marathon but served only as a confirmation that I would have to withdraw – illness had got the better of me and hampered any prospect of training. I struggled around in 2:36:31! My second visit saw an improvement to 2:03:29 but then last year, when all seemed well set for an attempt a sub 2 hour half marathon for the first time, I struggled in the heat and finished in 2:07:02. As I came to this year’s event, I had already conquered the sub 2 hour time by the finest of margins at Dartford (1:59:52). This left me the choice of attempting to improve on that, or attempting some pace discipline and going with my intended London Marathon target of 10 minute miles. The former got the better and I had already decided to target a new PB by the time I arrived. Weather wise, it was not too dissimilar to last year with bright sunshine, albeit it seemed a little fresher than I recalled from last year. A new vest last week at Cranleigh, but no change to the damage meant I ditched the tape this week and went for Vaseline instead. New running shoes too. My old pair had been feeling a little flat in cushioning so I had to get a new pair to wear in before London. New shorts too! It seemed luck was on my side when we arrived. I had dropped off my fellow runners near the start and headed off to park up, finding a car park only a couple of hundred yards further on. I then heard of heavy congestion on the route I should have taken on the way down, only missing it through not paying attention to my satnav and turning off at the wrong exit on the motorway! The toilet queue was ridiculously long but luckily PWR Tim discovered the a men’s loo hidden away with no queue. All falling nicely into place so far. There was a handful of other PWRs taking part in their first half marathon today so it was good to have a chat with a couple before the start. There were also some seasoned campaigners and Roger from Bromley Vets suggested I might achieve around 1:50 today! Not likely was my response, especially if it warmed up later in the race. Finally, 9:30am arrived and we were off. This is a popular race and so can be quite helpful at the start where it’s difficult to head off too fast because of the number of other runners around. At the same time, there is just about enough space to make progress if others have set off too slow. Luckily, I didn’t really have any runners slower than my pace to contend with and I managed to establish my goal pace fairly quickly and settle. There was a hill at around one mile, but after that, the course is flat except for a small handful of humped back bridges later on. I progressed through the first 4 miles without issue, I could feel the temperature beginning to rise by this point and the first drinks station was welcome. One useful piece of advice I was given last summer is to use water to keep cool, so not just drinking but pouring it over my head to help cool down. Luckily, the drinks stations were only water this week, and no squash, so I was able to take this approach all the way around. Around 7 miles, I began to recall last year. This was the point a which it all fell apart. This year though, I still felt in good shape. The question in my mind though was whether or not I could sustain the pace all the way. I persuaded myself to think just 2 miles ahead and get to that point before reassessing. Somewhere in between, we came across a cold wet sponge station. As I collected mine, one of the marshals was shouting to “save it for the stocks”, and there at the end of the buckets was some poor chap waiting to be pelted by wet sponges. Not likely today though, it was far too warm to waste anything which helped stop overheating. Also during that period, I was passed by a couple of others in the same M40 category as me, one stating he was pacing himself for “an inch and a half inside 1:55”. That was a bit of a shock to hear at this stage. I knew I was ahead of my intended pace, but that sounded like I was significantly ahead. At 10 miles, we were greeted by a spectator shouting the now well known phrase “only a parkrun to go”. Of course, in any normal scenario, 3.1 miles would be straightforward. However, on legs which were now tiring, it felt like a long way to go. 11 miles was my next target. At that point, I knew I would have less than 20 minutes to go. I felt like I was slowing down and a look at my watch throughout mile 11 showed paces at just over 9 minutes per mile. I still felt like I had a rhythm though and so I turned my attentions away from my watch and simply focussed on the road ahead. The last 2 miles signalled a time to really dig in - not far to go, but that last 20 minutes already felt like a lifetime. The crowds which had been absent in the country lanes had now returned. The lift I got was incredibly helpful, a real boost to get me to the top of the final bridge and as I got there, I glanced to my left and was able to see the finishing line. Ahead of me, I could see the 13 mile sign and a nice gentle downslope off the bridge towards it. I reached 13 miles and turning a sharp left back towards the finish line meant it was time to stretch my legs and break into a “sprint” finish. As I approached the line, I could see the time was well under 2 hours. I stopped my watch but before I was able to look and take in the time, I had to pause to briefly to get that initial finish line recovery before heading away from the finish area. A look at my watch as I walked back to the baggage store showed me a time of 1:56:20, a new PB which was later reduced by 1 second on the official results. On another positive note, the Vaseline did the trick! No war wounds this week! One of the pleasing things about this performance, apart from the finish time, was dealing with the bad memories of last year. In times gone by, those memories would have haunted me and without a doubt, I would have given up and walked. Today, my mind was strong and determined, and there was no way I was going to allow anything from last year to get in the way of a decent time. All in all, everything seemed to fall into place today, either through luck, or the hard work of the last year paying dividends. All good then!
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I've always been one to do things at the last minute. Homework for school was always done in that way and packing to go on holiday definitely falls into that category too. So to today. I was pretty good in that I prepared my kit the night before, including attaching my number to my vest. Then came the timing chip attachment. Here was the first challenge, and I hadn't even made it to bed ahead of the race itself! I gave in, despite a few Facebook pictures showing how it might be done. As it turned out, those pictures were fine even though not matching the official direction I received on arriving at the start. This was round 9 of the Petts Wood Runners Grand Prix and so it was great to meet up with a number of fellow Petts Wood Runners, and competitors. Early on, I bumped into Richard, after he exited the portaloos complaining there was no water to wash his hands. David arrived at that point and suggested he use the bowl! Richard headed back but soon reappeared stating it wasn't quite working for him. Good move. Off we went to the clubhouse and around 9:15am, there was a call out for a club photo. Richard, who had decided not to run today, was the chosen one to take the photo. Then technology got in the way as he appeared to have difficulty finding the right button to press. Either that or a dodgy phone. All was fine in the end and everyone headed off to the start line. For PWR, there was a large contingent that started right at the back due to the late departure from the clubhouse. I was undecided until fairly late as to what I should do pace wise. On the one hand, my plan was saying 9:25 per mile but equally I was thinking I was in the best place I'd ever been to squeeze under 2 hours. I'd set my mile paces into my watch but only decided to use them at the last minute, literally as I joined the starting pack! The first few miles were rather uneventful, although at the back of my mind was a worry I may have gone off too quickly. However, as I progressed, I felt comfortable that all was good. A couple of short sharp hills in the first 5 miles didn't do any damage and I felt good. As I got to 8 miles and just beyond, it was nice to receive some support from friends, first Eden and Alex, soon followed by Mag and John at a milestone turn for me - the point at which I would head on my way towards Gore Hill, a hideous ascent with an increase in gradient around half way into its approximate half mile distance. Mike Reeves, Petts Wood Runners track coach, appears at a a few events where PWRs are present and makes some great YouTube videos for us to look back on. Today was no different and after showing his face early on, he moved himself to Gore Hill! I had tried to conserve some energy before starting my ascent and to start with, things seemed relatively good. Gravity gradually got the better of me and I slowed significantly as I headed towards Mile's position. I could hear him up ahead and soon saw his Mod bike. As I approached him, expecting a supportive comment, I heard, "Come on, my Gran could run faster than that!" That is the sort of comment I would have expected in my days as a football referee from a physio sent on to the pitch with a message from the manager! Luckily, all of us at PWR know Mike's enthusiasm for us all to succeed rises well above that and so it brought a chuckle and a smile in my case. The top of the hill meant that horror was out of the way. For me though, there were still challenges ahead. Although I dislike hills, they seem to give me a focus while the flat sections sometimes seem difficult. So with my legs still recovering from that hill, the next short flat section proved mentally tough. There were enough other runners around though to hang on to which saved me the effort of pacing. I knew there was a nice downhill towards Central Park coming and I couldn't wait to reach it. Well into the last 2 miles, I looked at my watch and tried to assess whether or not a sub 2 hour time was on. I determined it was touch and go and so continued at the pace I had established since the top of the hill. I reached the park and on looking to my left, saw the finish. The trouble was, we were diverted right! Ouch! Having been here twice before, I knew that turn was coming although it didn't make it any easier! I kept an eye on my watch. I knew we would finish up with a lap of the track and so I tried to calculate the likelihood of breaking through 2 hours. I knew it was touch and go. I was feeling so tired at this point that I considered walking but this thought was quickly trumped by how disappointed I would be if I missed the milestone by a few seconds. As I reached the final section, I took strength from the spring of the blue track. In the back straight was Richard, positively encouraging me, and every other PWR, over those last few yards. The home straight arrived and I knew my goal was there for the taking. A final push and I crossed the line. I stopped my watch just beyond the line but didn't know for sure whether I had achieved or not. As I passed the tables loaded with bananas and muffins as well as water, I was able to see my watch showed 1:59:52, later confirmed as official. Well, that certainly did cut it fairly fine! A fellow PWR had joked yesterday that I might go quicker if I lost my beard. I had also been nagged recently by my 9 year old daughter that it had become a bit prickly and it needed to go! So, I caved and it disappeared. Who knows whether cutting it fine may have saved me a second or two today. Maybe it leaves the door open for Hastings HM next week, where I was around three minutes quicker last year than at Dartford. We shall see! |
ABOUT MEHaving completed 5 marathons between 1999 and 2016, I decided this year, I would try to do it properly and plan my training! Alongside, I wanted to keep a blog as it went along, partly to look back on, and partly to help anyone else who may benefit from my own experiences. Archives
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