Sunday 3 July 2011

Harvest Half Marathon 2009

October 3, 2009

My second half marathon. It was going to be cold, so I hastliy bought a couple of items, though I then looked like a mime artist.

There was snow coming down on the way there, though it magically stopped before the horn sounded. It was one of those races where I had 2 aims: sub-1hr 40min, or failing that, any PB (1hr 46min, 15sec).

I must have started a way down the order as I found myself quickly flying past quite a few people - surprising because I still thought of myself as very slow. Got to an early hill near Fish Creek c-train station and didn't feel tired at the top, but the "false flat" nature of the part after was more energy-sapping.
Plunging down into Fish Creek Park almost literally, there were numerous later mini-ups and downs leading to a comedy of pass/ re-pass of several people due to my caution heading downhill.
More challenging for me was the math - 4:45 per km. I would multiply the distance by 5, then the distance by 15 and subtract the two numbers. It seemed to take a whole km to work it out - who thought of 60 seconds to a minute? At the halfway sign though I knew for a fact that I was on course for about 1.40, despite having a shoe lace come undone - could've sworn I've double knotted without fail since the age of 4.
Between Macleod Trail and Sikome Lake hill was some 6 or so km, though this did seem longer. Heat wise I was doing fine, though when that hill came into view it made for a daunting sight when I correctly guessed the race route was going around it. Having got to the top without stopping (don't ask me how), this time the burning quads only came right at the end. Still, I finished in 1.38:07 and didn't mind at all knocking 8 minutes off my PB, 49th place.

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