Fleet Half Marathon

So, today was the Fleet half marathon.

With an 11:30am start - it was quite a late one, which I think makes eating and drinking before hand quite tricky because you don't want to eat too early so that the 'effects' wear off too soon - also, the late start meant that it was quite warm by the off.

Dilemmas of the morning - which shoes to wear (new white Nikes) and whether to take a drink with me (I did).

Anyway, we got to Fleet at about 10:30am and finally found a nice parking space for the van. Jon and my friend Nic had come along on cheering duties - which was really cool - although I didn't do much chatting to them before the race, I'm not very good before a run - all I can think about is what's to come!

So - a picture of me before the start, looking cheerful and enjoying the sunshine.

Of course, my race plan was to NOT go off too fast, hopefully knock out a nice consistent pace of 8min/miles (planned marathon place), maybe get a bit of a PB, but finish feeling like I had more to give - with the Reading Half Marathon in a couple of weeks as my real focus for fast time getting.

To try and 'help' I started a bit further back in the field - we were wearing timing chips, so our time from start line to finish line was being measured: at big races where it can take minutes to get over the start line and there is chip timing - I never really worry about the gun time (shown on the big clock).

So, the first mile was too fast - despite having to dodge round all the over slow people that were a bit optimistic in their estimated times - and the second mile was even faster. I had my first cheer from Nic & Jon at about 1 mile which was nice, and then I saw them again just after 3 miles and they took a picture of me looking pretty fresh and cheery (it was early days!).

From there we headed into Elvetham Heath where I spotted Alison from the Cove Joggers up ahead. We have a little friendly rivalry (nothing official though you understand) going on - we are the same age and pretty similar running wise, although she has done quite a lot of marathons - all in really good times - so she definately has the advantage over me on that! Anyway, I didn't really want to catch up or pass her. I knew I was going too fast already, and if I caught her up I was going to have to keep on going fast (or faster) which was not good.

I did catch her though - she said something about going to fast, I agreed, but still ploughed on! Stupid really.

Nothing much went on until just before 7 miles where there was a big group of cheerers - friends of Nics who I met last night at a Barn Dance in Hartley Witney (great pre-race training!) - and they gave me a great boost with a MASSIVE cheer! Brilliant stuff.

Also, more cheers between 7 & 8 miles, and another photo, when I unexpectedly saw Nic & Jon again - they were doing a great job on the cheering team - and I felt very well supported :)

I had a bit of a lull between 8 & 9 miles - which was probably because it was mostly up hill - and after that it seemed to be 2 minutes good, 2 minutes bad - and counting down every step of the way.

By 11 miles I was really looking forward to it being over - I thought I had blown it by going too fast, and I was going to end up shuffling the last couple of miles.

There was bit of downhill soon after that though and that perked me up for a bit, and then I concentrated on catching some people ahead of me, and then I saw Jon & Nic again (more photos - still smiling) and then there was a small uphill slope (so mean) and then ........... it was nearly all over.

As I went past the 13 mile markand could see the finish gantry, my time was 1:39 exactly - I wasn't sure if I could make the final 0.1mile in less than a minute - but I really pushed it (overtaking 3 people on the way) and came in at 1:39:44!!

This was a PB by 4 minutes over my time at the Marlow Half in November (that was hilly though) and just took me under my secretly hoped for goal of 1:40 :) Brilliant!

I was well chuffed. Also good was that Alison came in behind me - only just - but definitely behind. Sorry Alison - no doubt you will kick my ass all over the London Marathon - but today, I 'won' :)

Race over, cheering squad located - we headed off to the pub for lunch. Sitting in the sunshine, enjoying a bit of food, marvelling at my new PB - everything was right with the world.

You can't beat that post-race glow :)