St Albans Half Marathon, 2013

The last 6 weeks or so have been focused on improving my running speed which has disappeared over the last couple of years as I've focused on triathlon and lately the London Marathon.

This was my first half marathon for a while and I was a bit disorganised to say the least. I travelled with my friend Dominic and rolled up 20 minutes before race start, still needing to change, drop bag and warm up.

The warm up didn't happen and I jumped into the nearest pen seconds before the start. I found myself way back and struggled to pass through the crowds over the first 1-2 miles.

I thought that was fine as I was desperate not to go off too fast.

I set my pace at just under 8min/miles through to mile 7 and maintained a good effort up the hills.

Since I last ran a road race there's been a revolution in the number of barefoot runners. Most of them had started well but were slowing up between 9 and 10 miles. The one I spoke to complained about sore feet.

I took a SIS gel on at mile 10, enjoyed the caffeine hit and pushed on. The course is undulating and a lot of folk were paying the price of a fast start and I just targeted the next shirt to pull in.

The last 3 miles were positive and I was able to accelerate over the last half mile to complete in 1:43.

Overall I am delighted with the performance and that I was able to hold the average under 8mins. This was a PB for St Albans, my previous best was 1:49 in 2009.
However, on reflection I held back a little too much and this is probably a result of the mindset I've had for the endurance events I've completed over the last couple of years. Going forward I need to put that out of my mind and race nearer the edge - or unleash myself as I have been told before!

I'm carrying on with the pursuit of pace and after an easy 3 miles and a stretch I'll be back to reps on Wednesday. St Albans Half Garmin