TL;DR
So I did it : I completed my first Half Marathon, and an actual event with other people as well and even got the medal to prove it 😀 I had been training for a time of 2:20, so very pleased with a final official time of 2:16:16, and also got my 10k, 15k and 10 mile PRs along the way as well! Longer write up below...
How I got here
My running journey really started at the beginning of last year when I decided to do couch to 5k, with aim of doing a Parkrun by end of March, which I achieved. After a few months of consolidation I followed Ju-ju's plan and booked a 10k along Windsor river side in October. Unfortunately this run was not well organized (and hampered by bad weather) so had 2 route changes in the last few days, and incorrect signage on the day, so the race distance was not correct (my fitbit also failed so I never got an accurate distance from that either). Therefore I felt this was unfinished business, so I booked up another Windsor River run this spring, with F3 events, who seemed more professional . Of course then Covid happened, so that event like everything else was postponed. I did still do my own virtual 10k in Windsor Park on the VE day bank holiday, and was rewarded by seeing the Red Arrows fly past after I'd finished 😀
The planned event was pushed back to October, so I decided to keep on training and while I was at it to start a half marathon training plan just to see how that went. Around this time the HUHM Autumn group started up, so I decided to sign up. This has been a great motivation to follow both here and on strava - through all the ups, downs, heat, rain, injuries, as well as the virtual runs and woohoos!
About a month ago F3 emailed to say they had a Covid plan agreed and the Windsor River event was going ahead, so I confirmed my place and at HM distance, so all was set to go. Then with less than a week left the event was postponed again by the local council 😥 The new proposed date is the end of Nov, however I was not keen on that given a) I'd trained for Oct, b) the weather by then is likely to be worse and c) given its been postponed twice I think a good chance it will be again! However the Eton Dorney Lake race this weekend was still going ahead, so I decided to switch to this instead. Being on private ground I hoped this had more chance to go ahead plus the weather looked better and also gave an extra week for my knee to recover from a recent injury.
Race Day
Therefore I turned up at Eton Dorney Olympic Rowing Lake this morning. The Covid-19 preparations were all thorough: pre-race health check, check in via the NHS app when you arrived, hand sanitizer, 2 meter gap, people starting at 15 second intervals etc, which all gave confidence in the event being secure. The event was a bit later than the river run would have been due to a duathlon taking place before, so I arrived in time to collect my bib number, get ready, warm up and join the queue for the start. I had my plan, nutrition and music all sorted and was ready to go!
This wasn't my original choice of event, but the course was not quite as bad as I thought (I thought it was literally just laps of the lake). The first section was along the boundary of the grounds, roughly following the Thames. However this section seemed harder as it was longer, and also had a bit of a head wind. Following the turn at the end there was then the straight back to the start. This went down the middle of the lake, and was more enjoyable with the swans, ducks and birds flying around - and more importantly the wind behind 😀 Each lap was exactly 5k, so the HMers did an extra section on the first lap to make the extra distance. Given this is a flat & fast course and one of the few events currently taking place it is well attended by running clubs and serious athletes - so I was expecting to be overtaken a lot, which did happen! First by the HMers then the 5 & 10k ers as well - still I tried not to get carried away and just stuck to a pace I was happy with (even if faster than my training). I did realise I wasn't quite the slowest though and on the 2nd and 3rd laps I did overtake a few other people. The 4th lap was by far the toughest though - all the fast runners had now finished, so was just us slower HMers going, and all well spaced out by this point. Therefore I found my pace dropping off. However I knew I was ahead of my plan so I allowed myself a short walk, and drink of water, then turned up my music and focussed on the finish straight! Definitely glad to see the finish line: although no spectators, the marshalls did a great job of cheering people on (all very Parkrun like, as also commented by Linda9389 on the Kew 10k!)
Overall very happy to have completed this journey with the Autumn HUHM team 😀
PS final comment: I always try and sync my Garmin watch straight after an event. On the drive home my watch decided to do an update (which always results in losing all data since last sync) - so very glad I did that today!!
Post Half Marathon Runs
Virtual Edinburgh Half Marathon Challenge - Run report
An Autumnal half marathon
Half Marathon canal run!
