Quite literally today as I completed the hilly Liversedge Half Marathon, a race well known for its 'undulations'. There are lots of negative mumblings about this race due to the hills but having run it last year, I knew that it isn't too bad.
Well, not when you train in EcclesHILL anyway.
The race didn't start until 11am, which was lovely, as I'd been used to getting up at some ungodly hour for weekend races/runs usually in the dark and arriving at the race not really sure how I'd got there. Next thing, we'd be off, and I'd find myself only just coming round on the final mile or two by which time I'm be too shattered to remember anything about the run.
Anyway, a civilised start time seemed to make for a better race (and a better Saturday night!). I didn't really have a game plan for this race other than just to run it like I would a training run. And try not to wear myself out for the week ahead.
I've never been particularly interested in repeating races that I've already done the previous year, but it is a great test of improvement (or otherwise). This was the case today as this race wasn't nearly as tough as I remembered it. And I managed to slash 14 minutes of last year's time coming in at 2.02.14. I can't be cool and pretend that I really did just saunter round as if on a training run. It's a pretty hard thing to do on a race. But nevertheless, I only did really hammer it on the lovely downhills in an attempt to make up for some of the time I inevitably lost on the killer hills, which were plenty.
There was some great support throughout the race from club members including Lindsey at Bailiff Bridge, both Mick and Lindsey who were cheering us on up the long stretch at about nine miles and finally Jo and her wonderful son Jack who ran in with me on the final uphill stretch. This camaraderie is what I love about running.
This week has gone well. I've done a little less than I have been doing by ditching my Wednesday night bootcamp session, at least in the short term. I've eaten a little of what I fancy, had a great session at the track and experimented with recovery drinks.
Going into the next week with optimism. Everything seems to be in perspective again.
No comments:
Post a Comment