Another of my old blog posts. This is the race report from the Jedburgh Half Marathon 2007. I entered this race with the sole aim of getting 1:39:59 or better as I missed that at the Great North Run by only 18 seconds! Here's the report.
Jedburgh Half Marathon 2007
I entered this race in the week following the Great North Run with one sole aim, to finish in 1:39:59 or quicker. This was my goal for the GNR, which was my first half marathon, but I missed out that day by 18 seconds! The reason I was so keen to do another was that I knew I could go faster. When I look back at the GNR I can see what went wrong on the day for me and I wanted to try to get everything right.
Helen and I set off at 8.30 this morning for the drive down to Jedburgh, Andrew was going to his gran's for the day. This presented me with the first 'issue' of the day. One of the biggest things I got wrong at the GNR was that I wasn't properly hydrated on the start line. To make sure that didn't happen today I had been drinking pretty much non-stop for the past 24 hours. Needless to say, what goes in, must come out and I have to admit to stopping in a couple of lay-bys on the road down to relieve myself!
Anyway I got to the start line hydrated and with an empty bladder. The race started and I had my pace band for a 1:35, I like to give myself a bit of lee-way! A 1:35 requires 7:15 minutes per mile and for the first 3 miles I was doing 7 minutes and feeling great. This was excellent news, I was up on my lee-way target! There was water between 3 and 4 miles where I had the first of my two gels. This went down ok and I continued making good time, slowing a bit but I put that down to the water station. I went on through the Borders countryside, which was beautiful to run through. I had begun to slow a bit but nothing too serious, I was still on for a 1:35! Then at 8 miles I took the second of my gels with some more water. This one did however cause some problems. I started to get a really bad stitch at about 8.5 miles but found that it got better if I burped?! I guess the gel was reacting to something in my stomach. Anyway this caused me to slow a bit more but I was still on to beat 1:40. When I got to 10 miles I was feeling much better and had got there in 1:14 which was about 2 minutes faster than I did in the GNR. A quick calculation meant that I could do 8 minute miles for the remaining 3 and still get my target. They were three tough miles, into a fairly strong headwind and miles 10.5 to 11.5 was all uphill!!! but I managed it!!! I left my 'sprint finish' for the 200m to go banner this time instead of the 800m and managed to pick up a few places to finish in 1:38:56.
Helen and I set off at 8.30 this morning for the drive down to Jedburgh, Andrew was going to his gran's for the day. This presented me with the first 'issue' of the day. One of the biggest things I got wrong at the GNR was that I wasn't properly hydrated on the start line. To make sure that didn't happen today I had been drinking pretty much non-stop for the past 24 hours. Needless to say, what goes in, must come out and I have to admit to stopping in a couple of lay-bys on the road down to relieve myself!
Anyway I got to the start line hydrated and with an empty bladder. The race started and I had my pace band for a 1:35, I like to give myself a bit of lee-way! A 1:35 requires 7:15 minutes per mile and for the first 3 miles I was doing 7 minutes and feeling great. This was excellent news, I was up on my lee-way target! There was water between 3 and 4 miles where I had the first of my two gels. This went down ok and I continued making good time, slowing a bit but I put that down to the water station. I went on through the Borders countryside, which was beautiful to run through. I had begun to slow a bit but nothing too serious, I was still on for a 1:35! Then at 8 miles I took the second of my gels with some more water. This one did however cause some problems. I started to get a really bad stitch at about 8.5 miles but found that it got better if I burped?! I guess the gel was reacting to something in my stomach. Anyway this caused me to slow a bit more but I was still on to beat 1:40. When I got to 10 miles I was feeling much better and had got there in 1:14 which was about 2 minutes faster than I did in the GNR. A quick calculation meant that I could do 8 minute miles for the remaining 3 and still get my target. They were three tough miles, into a fairly strong headwind and miles 10.5 to 11.5 was all uphill!!! but I managed it!!! I left my 'sprint finish' for the 200m to go banner this time instead of the 800m and managed to pick up a few places to finish in 1:38:56.
I'm delighted to get under the 1:40 but at the start I said I wanted to try to get everything right. I got a lot more right today than I did in the GNR but there are still improvements to be made!!!
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