The One in Kew - Week of September 16

This was the week of that all the training has been for - the Richmond half marathon. The week started off with a casual 3 miles at slightly faster than race pace around Horsham park.

Distance: 3.01 miles
Time: 22:08
Pace: 7:20 mins/mile

The plan for the second short run was to do the same as the first. However, some poor time management on my part meant I had to cut it down to two miles to make it to work on time.

Distance: 2.01 miles
Time: 14:27
Pace: 7:10 mins/mile

The day before the race I went up to stay with Sarah's parents who lived nearby to Kew gardens (where the race began). So in the morning we got a couple of buses and made it to the start line with plenty of time to spare (unlike poor Tom and Weeman who had a bad journey and made it just in time). After watching Tom and Weeman start in the 10k and waiting around for a while, it was finally time to line up at the start. The announcer said that they had forgotten to bring the start time flags so was calling it rough areas to stand depending on our estimated finishing time. I stood around the 95 minute mark. When the race started (as with all the others I've taken part in), loads of the people starting around me had seriously over estimated there finishing times, consequently for the first mile I was fighting to get out of the slow moving crowd around me. The first few of miles where run around Kew gardens, and I managed them slightly above my planned pace of 7:30 minute miles. I even managed to overtake some of the 10k runners who started a half hour earlier. The next couple were around the streets of Richmond, and having a pit more space and pavement beneath me allowed me to find my pace. The race then took a turn down along the Thames. The path here was quite muddy and thin, with cyclists fighting there way through, though thankfully I didn't slow down much from this. The route then turned back into Richmond, where I began to feel it, not having run more than 10 miles in 6 months. Finally I turned into the park where the finishing line was located. I however missed seeing the 12 mile indicator, so thought I was nearer finishing than I thought. I opened up thinking the finish was just up ahead, then entered a large field we had to run around the outskirts off for half a mile, and I still couldn't see the finish. To make matters worse it was slightly uphill. However I kept pushing and crossed the line. My chip time in the end was 1:39:52, which meant I'd averaged 7:35 miles, just below my target so I was pleased. I then picked up my medal and technical top. My time was a minute or so off my PB, but I didn't feel as prepared as I did before the Brighton half earlier in the year.

Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 1:39:52
Pace: 7:35 mins/mile

I'm now off abroad for a few weeks for work, but am taking my running stuff so should still be hitting the streets, maybe even doing some altitude training in Chile.