Today I ran my first HM and I loved it 😁
I say ran but that wouldn't be entirely true as while my original intention was to run it all, that isn't quite how it panned out! More on that later but let's begin at the beginning.
What a beautiful day for running - glad I'd chosen a short shorts and vest combo 🌞
My son was running in the 2k mini run so we left the house just before 10 to walk the mile to the start. Met a lovely young man from London who'd parked in our street and was bereft of safety pins for his number. Went indoors and got him some then had a lovely chat with him (he was using Hastings Half as training for the London Marathon) on the walk down. Met up with my son's Dad and his girlfriend, went to the loo for the millionth time (who knew one cup of coffee could make you wee so much 🤣) then we made our way to our starting position. I choose 2 hours as although I knew this was a bit fast it did mean I wouldn't get too held up at the start. When we got to the first hill a few hundred metres in people were walking up it which seemed a bit odd if they thought they were going to go sub2!? 🤔
So far so good. Ran up the stupidly steep first bit of Harley Shute passing lots of walkers (I don't blame them for that one - it's like scaling Everest 🤣) and was feeling really good. Waved to my boyfriend just before the 2 mile marker then on to the devil that is the Queensway. I knew this bit was going to be hard. It's 3 miles of pretty much constant climbing - not particularly steep just relentless. I started to climb and my calves said no. Actually when I looked back at the data from my Garmin my heart rate hit 202 at that point so the fact I stopped and walked was probably quite wise! Saw some of my friends from my Running Club who'd caught up with me, got going again but not for long ☹️ Made myself feel better by virtue of the fact there were many young and fit looking men who were also walking!
With the challenge of running the whole way now gone I decided I just wanted to enjoy myself. So for the next 8 miles I high fived every child I could (and someone dressed as a bear 🐹) stopped and drank water, (nearly got some lager outside one of the pubs 😂) ate orange segments, pelted down the hills - which I said I wouldn't do but it was just too much fun not to 🤣- walked a bit, ran a bit 🐌, ran a bit 🐎, chatted to people and thanked anyone who clapped, cheered, played music, banged saucepans (thanks old ladies up by the hospital 👍) and generally had the time of my life 😊
Thought I might go for a grandstand last 400m but unfortunately when I got there the legs weren't having any of it. Collected my medal, had a little chat with one of the homeless guys who live in the shelter and went off to find my boyfriend and my son.
He'd run the mini run in 8:55 (only a few seconds off his PB) so he was pretty chuffed. My chip time was 2:13:22 which considering all the walking was not too bad. The conditions were perfect today to run faster but to be honest I wouldn't change what I did. I'm often incredibly harsh on myself when I don't perform as well as I think I should so the way I ran today was a bit of a revelation. Running can be whatever you want it to be - fast times, PBs, pushing yourself to your limits, high fiving kids, chatting to random strangers, all of the above and more.
Find what you enjoy and go for it! 😁😁
CONGRATULATIONS!
First half marathon
