Yay, it was a good one! My first half, but my second big public race; I did the 10 mile GSR in Oct last year and it was a miserable affair for me (I just re-read my post to refresh my memory healthunlocked.com/marathon... , so there was a lot of (self) pressure to make this a positive run 😊
Military planning on my part as usual; hydrated and carb loaded all day Saturday (result: very dodgy tummy Sat evening, and up all night peeing!). Alarm went off at 6 am, I climbed into my clothes, grabbed my bags (and those for my son who was running too) and set off in the car for London. Absolutely no problem with closed roads so I was in the Hilton car park by 7.10, too early! Made and ate my porridge and nipped to the Hilton loos as tummy was still dodgy (nice chat there with two lovely LLHM ladies 😃). My son called; he was on his way.
I had his gear all laid out for him in the car (bib, safety pins, jelly babies, banana, phone belt …. he’s 20 but the opposite of me and doesn’t plan or organise anything, including himself! When he arrived, he needed to know how to set up Mapmyrun voice prompts and what pace he needed for a sub 2hr run - see what I mean! He proved a great distraction and while I worried abut him, I wasn’t worrying about me. Another Hilton loo stop and then we were off to walk to the start. Despite there supposedly being 7 waves it was a bit of a free for all, so we had time for another loo stop (you have to do the portaloos once right?) and some stretching before joining the line. When we eventually got going – to ‘Reach for the Star’s – it was very congested for quite a way so I got to run with my son for longer than expected.
The race itself? Fab! Loads of entertainment and supporters, virtually flat and the most amazing charity cheer stations on what seemed like every corner. 10 out of 10 for atmosphere. Weather was virtually perfect too. Twice I spotted my hubby and daughter who had come to watch (once I missed them)! I made it to the finish line well under my target 2h 30m and ran virtually the entire way. The highlight of my day? looking up in the finish area and seeing my son who had waited for me with a big hug – I will remember that moment for a very long time. Funniest moment? when he told me he didn’t know how long a half marathon was and that he’d been looking for the finish line from mile 10 or 11 (he knew it was 21.1km but there were no km signs!). Saddest moment? hearing he hadn’t made his target time - but at 2h 4m for his first half, with very limited training I think he should be very proud.
I was determined to enjoy it. I was determined not to walk; this meant I could – and would - walk and drink at the four water stations, but nowhere else. I was determined not to go too fast at the start and repeat the burnout effect of the GSR and one of my HM training runs. I was also determined to smile for the cameras. How did all that go?
Well, I very definitely enjoyed it.
I did walk at the water stations, but I must confess to an extra cheeky walk for a few seconds at about 12.5 miles (which gave me the energy for a push at the end so actually I’m happy with that). There were four water stations, so I was never running more than 5K at a time, psychologically that was a huge help.
Pace? I had planned out a three-pace race, based on water station intervals. Never having used one before, I made myself a pace band (thanks for the idea Abi) in miles (which I never, ever use). I checked my time at each mile marker against the band, and this was GREAT for me: I will absolutely do it again. GPS issues mean the Garmin pace is often incorrect at any point in time and sends me into panic. This was very clear – I was either ahead or behind at every mile marker, no discussion. However, I was at least 3 minutes ahead by the first water 3 miles, oops! I did rein it in a bit then and although I eventually finished 4 minutes ahead of the pace band (which was already slightly optimistic at 2h 25m), I would say I was on pace from the first water station onwards. This method of pacing myself stopped a huge amount of chatter and calculation in my head and made for a much calmer race.
Smiles? I’m smiling in about 80% of my race photos, and positively beaming in all the selfies we took 😃
‘Flat’ GSR, you taught me a lot, but I now know myself far, far better and you are behind me.
I WILL do another HM (in just under three weeks all being well) 😊.
I 'chatted' to many of you en-route; you were as supportive as always xxx
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linda9389
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Cripes..it only seems like yesterday you were all excitedly looking at your plans and tweaking them to fit....and now here you are grinning away with a gorgeous medal round your neck and your Half-Marathon badge on ! 😊
Your plans went smoothly Linda, and the running gods were kind with the weather. Super time, and it sounds like you really enjoyed the atmosphere and felt in control of the distance.
And whats this about another one in three weeks? 😲... you are becoming a bling demon! Long distance running has definitely become your thing!
Well done. So pleased for you and totally impressed.🙆😊xxx
I have two HMs already booked - had to confirm before this weekend in order to get the place! A north wales one on 14th April and Oxford in October. But going to have a bit of fun in between - some Parkrun tourism hopefully And maybe a few 10k's as that is currently seeming like very nice distance
Oh wow, what can I say? FABULOUS!!!!! Enormous well done. Smiles, miles (ha!), running, organisation - all the boxes very much ticked xxxxxxx 💗💗💗💥💥💥🍾🍾🍾⭐⭐⭐
Ha, yes I was fine, but I was thinking about it a fair bit on the course, because the conditions seemed ideal for it 😄 Glad to hear you got away with it too 😊
Oh well done Linda, 👏🏃♀️, that’s fantastic, and such a brilliant time, I’m jealous! Well done son, too, that’s no mean feat getting so close to 2 hours. The ghost of GSR is long gone!
Yes, I’ve got 2 more HM’s too, I’m determined to be in a better mind set for Edinburgh, I’d really like to get that 2hrs 30, so if you can send me some of those positive happy vibes I’d be grateful.....👍💪😄
Thanks. There was a question mark over whether big organised events were for me after GSR, but this confirmed what I suspected - I actually do love the 'big' atmosphere 😀
It's the N Wales Coast half in just under 3 weeks. At 675 entries and half as many water stations I think that might be more of a challenge for me. Just hoping they aren't all serious speedy entries 😳
Good luck Linda - looks like a lovely route along the prom (after the first 2.5miles which is a bit up and down). It was one I considered but decided I had signed up for enough races this year already. Did not know about the water - that’s strange. Maybe carry a couple of those small bottles too?
I have no idea how many water stations is normal for a half, but your comment suggests two is low? Hopefully my small 150ml bottle should be enough in between. I hate carrying a bottle, but the 150ml fits in my flipbelt ok. I will build in two virtual water stations to give me my walk breaks and pyschological distance 'chunks' 😀
I’ve only done 3 HMs, so don’t know about the norm, but they all had 4 stops I think. That was about right for me. I don’t like running with water either but your small bottles sound ideal.
That's good to know. Four worked well for me, but hopefully two plus tiny bottle will be OK too. At least I won't be using as many plastic bottles as on Sunday!
GSR who? 😁 So glad you exorcised any niggling demons left by your last long race experience by having what sounds like a completely flipping AWESOME run! And look at your pictures, they're lovely 😊
Thanks Floss. I have kind of amazed myself 🤣. Very early on in the run I was welling up thinking what a wonderful achievement it was (even without finishing it), and what a wonderful journey I'd had getting from C25K to this point, with so many other amazing people. I'm pretty soppy at the best of times 😀😀😀
I loved reading this...it felt like my story too..you look superb at the end!!!! Exactly how you described it and a fab time 🙋🏻 I set off with daughter and her boyfriend and then let them go...loved seeing their smiling faces at the end❤️ Well done you...you gave me a boost again reading this 🥰 ps) hope you’re recovering well...my butt cheek kills 😂😂
Thank you 🙂 I've been reliving it through lots of posts on facebook too - all sorts of things I saw but didn't register at the time. I'm remarkably pain free which is great considering the various injuries beforehand - even managed a tough pilates class today. Look after that butt cheek! Have you registered for next year yet? I have 🤣
Oh, what a fantastic race report, Linda! Well done to both you and your son on a couple of great runs and times!😀 I have a work colleague who ran this with her husband and she also said there was a great atmosphere and that it was FLAT!!!👍 So pleased that all your training and preparation paid off and that you had such a great day - so good that you are doing it all again in three weeks!!🙂😮 Rest up well in the meantime!🏅🙂
Thank you It's interesting cos both GSR and LLHM are sold as having great support and entertainment. I feel it was much better at LLHM, but am not sure how much that is to do with expectations. I also think GSR was flatter - I don't remember any inclines at all, whereas there were a couple of 'drags' in LLHM which sapped my calves
One day I will do GSR again, but this year I've got a ballot place for the Oxford HM so it will have to wait a bit longer Itching to go out for a run tomorrow, but it will be a very easy one
Excellent job linda9389 you seem to really enjoy this one especially the big hug from your son at the Finnish as good as any medal and that’s a great photo of you both with your medals, Great time too I like the pace band idea. Well done on a great race 👍😀🏅🍾🎉
I like that timing band idea - I might try that for the GNR as I struggle with mile distances too. I wonder if that’s the case for many of us coming from the C25K, parkrun, 10km route into running? 🤔 If I have a long training run, I still think of it as 21.09km, not 13.whatever miles. Aaaannnyhow, doesn’t really matter does it? 😄 Brilliant run Linda - I’d love to do LLHM next year.
Thanks Colin. Do try the band. I always thought they were a daft idea, surely technology is way better? But it wasn't subject to any error so I had no doubts, it was true to my plan (even if I wasn't, and when I wasn't it was glaringly obvious) and - and this sounds silly but did make a difference, there were only 12 checkpoints not 20 (16 if you add.my water stations but I was always too busy enjoying the break to check at those points 😀). Actually, it also made it a real race not a training run: running in miles was much more official somehow 🤣🤣🤣
Wonderful post, inspiring me for my first one in May. Loved your story from the beginning to the very successful end. Well done to your son too, lovely photos 😀😀👍
Wow! what a great report - but an even more fantastic achievement. Just shows planning pays off. Im thinking of doing the GSR this year - it will be the furthest Ive run and I shall read this again for inspiration. Well done, on your amazing race, I hope you got a big fat medal for it
Well done Linda. Great report too. Might have to put that one on my 'to-do' list as I would love to do an event in London.
I like your thoughtst breaking up the race by water stops - just 5k in between - I had never though of it that way, and thats a good confidence boost on a long run, so I'm using that next time.
Thanks. I would highly recommend LLHM. I had used the distance chunking in the last two long training runs, so knew it worked for me. The band was new, but together with my spreadsheet, i will certainly use it again. O can modify it for the early hill and different water station distances in the next one 😀
Fab run, fab write-up! So glad this one lived up to your expectations! Sounds like some military-style planning went into this!! Well done Linda 😁🏃♀️👏💪🏅🎉
Congratulations! It’s great that your son ran as well. That must must have been a great feeling to be there with him. Your photos are amazing! And the time was great as well. 🏅🎉
I'm really looking to use the spring/summer to improve my speed. My son and I are looking to do an adult/child relay which is one mile each. I'll need to get faster for that - I made the mistake of looking at last year's results and there was some 5 min miling from the men and 6 min miling for the fastest women and children 😳😳 It's an event organised by the ladies who run junior parkrun so there will be lots of different abilities but I'd like to be faster than I am at the moment!
I'm definitely going to do Hastings HM again next year. Maybe Eastbourne or Brighton in 2020 and our running club have a pier to pier race in Feb each year which I'd like to do. It's just over 16 miles starting at Eastbourne pier but for some reason it goes way past Hastings pier?!?! 🤔
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And maybe a few 10k's as that is currently seeming like very nice distance 
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