Wilmslow Race Report
1
Review of Wilmslow Half
Hi Chris, here is my take on the race on Sunday, Firstly I have to say a big thank you to yourself & Paul with the running club.
When doing the constant drills it does get monotonous but I think it’s the sort of discipline that I would not be able to achieve on my own & it has definitely led to a noticeable improvement in my stamina & running ability. I am pretty sure that without the past year in the cold & wet on a Tuesday night I would not have been able to run 13 miles let alone do it in a respectable time.
The day got off to a good start with meeting my brother Justin & Steve at 9.00. On seeing myself & Justin in full race trim Steve started to try to organise himself by asking for pins to secure his number, a pen to fill out emergency medical information & help with securing his timing chip.
My own preparation was not at all smooth on placing my top over my head I lost my favourite headband & had to find a replacement.
On arrival at the rugby club a visit to the toilets was our first port of call. Ever the professional Steve had brought with him some emergency toilet roll in case there was none.
We then made our way to the start line ready for the gun. We were advised to try to slot in with people of similar ability, this resulted in Steve getting right to the front & the only difference between himself & those around him was the bagginess of his shorts.
He managed to get across the start line a full 9 seconds after the gunshot whilst myself & Justin took over 2 minutes.
The first mile was hard to judge, with continuous speeding up into gaps then slowing down as the gaps filled with other runners.
Despite the fact that I had 3 timing devices all of which give differing times I forgot to set them going so only realised at mile 1 that I hadn’t a clue how quick I had gone so far.
The next 4 miles were very easy & I think I went much faster than I thought I could go, this was done to try & claw back time from my slow first mile. Miles 5 to 8 I ran at what I felt would be comfortable speed to get around 1hr 50min which was my target time.
By far the hardest mile for me was mile 9. I think it suddenly dawned on me how far I still had to go & once this got into my head my legs felt heavy & I started to feel as though my feet were blistering & even thought wether I would be able to last the distance.
As I went on it started to get easier as I was counting down the miles until once again at 11.5 miles I started to get weary thinking maybe those first 5 miles were taking they’re toll. At that point as fresh looking Kerry spoke to me as she overtook me. I tried to follow at he pace thinking seeing her would help pull me along but that only lasted a short distance.
The last mile was easier but seemed more like 2 miles, I thought it would never end, I did however even manage a sprint up to the finish line, only to be met by people handing out leaflets for other events.
Before the event I swore that this was it I was giving up running after this but as my ankles ease up & walking gets easier all I remember was the laugh I had on the day & the great feeling of achieving my goal.
Thanks again to all at F2k for your support
Mark
A great race report, thanks to Mark for putting pen to paper.
Next Race?
Chris
