Well, not the best start to my day for the Llanelli Half
Marathon. Agreed to meet my mate and gym member Gareth (aka Geoff) at Llanelli
for say 8:00am.
Had a good night’s sleep, woke up at 6:15am (alarm due at
6:45am), quick visit to the loo and back to bed! Nice and warm!! I could hear
the rain on the roof outside L
So, my alarm sounded at 6:45amand I clicked the button, and
just lay there…………………..then had a text off a work colleague and friend James
who was also racing saying ‘’good luck for today’’, I thought ‘’wow hes up
early’’, or so I thought, text received at 7:20am!!!! Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhh
panic!!!!! Luckily all my clothes and kit was set out neatly from the night before
(cheers OCD) so all I needed was breakfast. I swear by porridge for any
endurance activities, on any normal day I have Weetabix and a shake, but
porridge really fills me up, even though I sometimes find it very difficult to
eat, especially first thing in the morning.
Anyway, I wolfed my porridge and a GO gel and headed out the
door, arrived at Llanelli at 8.10am with a long tailback leading down the road,
knowing the area quite well, I found a nice little parking space while everyone
else sat in the huge tailback to get in festival fields. I went and found Geoff
and sat in his car until the start, where we bumped in to James and his
girlfriend.
Approximately
9:00am start does not mean 9:00am start, instead we waited for every single
person in the 2,500 field to make a toilet break, only fair I suppose. Anyway
after a while of standing in the freezing cold (there was some tough cookies
out today in vests and short shorts!!), we were off!! And once again (basically
every single race) I started way too far back and was held up for a good 500m,
lost patience and started bombing down the grass at the side of the coastal
path to make up lost ground.
It was still very cold and took me about 3km tow arm up and
find a nice rhythm. Every time I looked at the Garmin forerunner I was within
4:15-4:30/km, very pleasing stuff, but did not want to burn out. Pretty boring
stuff then really until about 7km, when my hip flexor niggle started to arise,
however, whereas in training it makes me stop and stretch quite frequently,
there is something about a race scenario that your mind tells your body to ‘’toughen
up and stick it out’’. After about 2km I had completely forgotten about it. Hit
the 10km mark at about 45:00, I was keeping a nice pace and feeling stronger
than ever. Hit more than 13km in 60:00, I was very pleased but very aware that
my training runs are never this fast and was afraid of ‘blowing up’ too early.
I carried on passing a lot of people, however getting past
frequently myself. After 14km I took another GO gel, gave me a bit of a boost
actually, only ever used these in triathlons or on the bike, not in running
alone. We then passed the finish line, which was a bit demoralising and a kick
in the teeth, just the organisers testing our mental toughness, saying ‘’ha-ha
another 7km to go, carry on’’.
We then proceeded pass Llanelli Dock and down the coast
roads pathway towards Pentre-nicklaus Village and around a corner…………or 4, it
was never ending! I could see people turning around but it was not people turning
around, it was more going and coming around corners. In truth I think there
were only 3 corners, anyway, onward!!
I hit the 16-17km mark and felt great,
thoughts of a 1:30-1:32 were starting to creep into my thoughts, then, after
the turn around point, HEADWIND!!!!! It was horrendous and soul destroying! You’ll
see from my times and pace that I was now probably averaging about
5:00-5:10/km, way too slow!! It seemed to take me an age to reach the dock
again, with 1km to go I told my legs to push on, with no response! That headwind
had taken its toll and sapped my legs; anyway I carried on and made a conscious
effort to pick up the pace in the last 500m, and up the little hill (that didnt feel so little) by sandy
water park, down the other side and across the line in 1:37. Gutted!! After
such a good start and such a good feel, I missed my minimum target by 2minutes.
I think even without the headwind sapping my strength I would probably have
been closer to 1:35 than 1:33.
But I am looking at today’s race as ‘miles in
the legs’, after all, today’s race was not my A race, I’ve still got Bala Half
Ironman left and of course, Ironman Wales, with a few sportives thrown in.
Here is the link to GPS data:
At the finish line while I was waiting, Matthew Jones (ex
Wales football international and Leeds United player) crossed the line, having
ran the race in the memory of Gary Speed, he wore a lovely vest top with a few
pictures of Gary Speed on the rear flanked by the Wales Football Association’s
logo. I gave him my congratulations and off he went, looking very proud that he
had done this in memory of his close friend.
And that concludes my rather boring and excuse filled race
report from the Llanelli Half Marathon 2012. Congratulations to Geoff who
clocked an outstanding time as well!!
More blog updates will follow in the coming weeks, including
updates on how you can sponsor me for Ironman Wales, I am hoping to raise as
much as I can for the ‘Help for Heroes’
foundation.
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