I have been preparing for this since February, when I signed up, but really ramped up my training in the last 2 or 3 months. I am in the best shape of my life, but anything can happen on any given day.
Up to the day before, I was feeling super confident. I had done a couple of 15 or 16km practice runs at a steady race pace, and felt sure I could maintain it for 5 more kilometres. I had also done slower, longer runs so I knew that I would finish.
The night before was a total disaster though. My plan was to eat late, go to bed around 1130, get up just before 8am and head straight to the startline. I never eat anything before running, I prefer to go out on a completely empty stomach.
Well, best laid plans and all that. Instead of getting a restful 8 hours, I managed about 3 before being woken up in the night. Ping. Wide awake. So I laid there for more than an hour, thinking how desperately I needed to be asleep. Managed to doze back off just after 4am, then our delightful cats woke me up at 6am by scratching on the bedroom door. Ping. Wide awake again.
Time for Plan B then, so I got up, fed the bottomless monsters, and decided it was so early I should also eat something as well, else come the start time of 9am I am going to be so hungry I won't be able to run at all.
I made myself some cereal with fruit, and ate a half a banana as well. I didn't want to eat much, just enough that I save myself hunger pains later on.
I mulled around for a little while then headed over to race central with public transport. The underground was absolutely rammed full of racers and spectators. The first one that came resembled Tokyo during rush hour, the attendant was helping people to squeeze in to the tiny carriage. No way I am being manhandled by that dude, so I waited for the next one. Bit more luck this time, I managed to push in and away we went.
The atmosphere at these events is always fun and lively. I've only done a few but I really enjoy the camaraderie. Everyone is happy to talk to each other, discuss race plans, target times, your PBs and
all the other stuff your friends are completely bored of by now. There seemed to be a lot more people at this event than the last half I did.
 | |
| The Start Line the day before.. |
It was 830am now, and I was starting to do my usual warm up routine. I wasn't the only thing warming up. Along with thousands of other runners, the sun was also starting to beat down. Forecast said that it could reach up to 30 degrees, running in that kind of temperature is always a challenge. By 8.58am, I was believing the forecast.
At 9am, the klaxon went, and the first wave went through the gate. There were 6 groups in all, depending on what you said your pace would be when you signed up determines which group you get put in. I was in group 3, which would start in the second wave. This meant another 3 and a half minutes of standing at the start line.
Second klaxon - and we're off. My group's pace was said to be between 5-5.30 mins per km. Now my training had gone so well, that I believed I would go faster than this, I was now aiming for 4.30-4.40 per km. This meant I had to run around a lot of people in the first minutes, to get some space to run my own pace.
My early pace was good, if not a little too fast, but I felt great after 3 kms. I was averaging around 4.20 per km, but everything felt fine, I wasn't out of breath and it felt right, but a little warm with the sun heating up further every minute.
At kilometre 4, I knew B would be waiting on the sidelines to cheer me on, so I was looking around with anticipation. I heard her before I saw her, it felt so good to have her there cheering and supporting me, as well as her little sister.
Unfortunately, not long after I saw B, things started to go awry. I felt the unfamiliar surge of pain of a stitch in my right side of my stomach. I put this down to eating beforehand, as my body is not used to having any intake before a run. I pushed on for a few hundred metres, before the pain turned into a full on cramp, absolutely searing pain in my stomach now.
At this point, I thought I would have to drop out. I was heading up a slight incline, but the pain meant that I could barely keep up any pace, although I managed to keep a jog going. I was struggling now to take any kind of meaningful, deep breaths, so it was really difficult to keep moving at all. I was jogging with my hands on my hips, gasping all the way. At one point, an older man came running past me and signalled for me to keep it going with a hand gesture. It gave me a little boost.
I did not want to drop out. I put so much energy and time into training, to not finish now would be a disaster. Although my hopes of finishing in a personal best time had already evapourated, my thoughts now turned just to finish the race.
And so I pushed on through the pain. For about 3 kilometres, the pain was really sharp and quite debilitating. But once I got through those 3 kms, it got a bit easier, or I just got used to it, and I could pick up the pace a little bit once more.
The heat was also pretty full on by now as well, and running through the pain meant I did not have much energy, so the rest of the race was just a fight for survival. I was fairly steady in pace from 8km up until the 15 or 16km mark, but after that I had little left, and got slower and slower. I knew I could at least get to the line though.
After one hour, I was taking every opportunity where water was provided to throw some over myself. It was now so hot, just a small cup of water poured down the back of the neck gave a really lovely, envigourating feeling. I began to look forward to the water stations. I churned out kilometre after kilometre, counting each one down as I passed the markers with increasing relief.
Finally, I could see the final markers coming up in the distance. I did not have the energy to make a sprint finish, even when I saw B and family on the sidelines again, I just made sure I got over that line still upright.
In the end, I stopped my watch on 1:43:09. Considering the difficulties I had, I was pretty happy with this time. It was not a PB, but I had overcome an obstacle I had not foreseen and still put in a respectable run.
For sure, I will sign up to the next half in Budapest. For one thing, I still have a goal to finish under 1:40:00, and I still believe I can do that. Secondly, I absolutely love the atmosphere of these events. The whole city comes out to cheer, there are bands and drummers playing on the side of the road the whole time, and the sense of community spirit really shines out. You see every type of person, and every person has his or her own unique challenge and reasons for running the race.
Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment