February 7th 2010 - Dazed and Amazed - Watford...

1 hour 40 minutes! Smashing my pb by 7 minutes! Above you can see some of the pictures from the day. This of course was the Watford half marathon, which was special for a number of reasons. Watford is the place of my birth and the place where most of my family came from (and the football team I support!). This was also the first competitive half marathon that I had run for quite a long time; and poiniantly the 7th of February would have been my mother's birthday, so it seemed very appropriate to run in Watford today.
My PB was set in Japan on a warm, Tokyo day and on a completely flat course. This was a very hilly course and very, very cold (note pictures above!) so doubly pleasing.
Also, I walked 18 miles around Dorking, Box hill and White hill with the Met Walkers on Saturday. This plus waking up with cold symptoms this morning did not make me feel that I would do particularly well...
As it was it felt like a good atmosphere, lining up with 2000 other runners and people wishing each-other good luck. As the race started I realised I felt good and was amazed to find I'd run the first mile in 7.57 (I was planning on an 8 minute mile but in the end I just felt good and kept at the same pace pretty much all the way round). It was a really nice course, out in the countryside round Watford and very well marshalled and supported - mile markers every mile and good drinks stations. The horses were a bit annoying: surely if the road is closed to cars it's closed to horses as well? And they stopped me from getting water at one of the stations but no matter.
It felt like a fast course and being a Met Walker and 3 Peaks club member the hills felt like a breeze (sort of...)
So: Mile 1 - 7.57 (suddenly there was the marker!), Mile 2 - 7.56, Mile 3 - 7.45, Mile 4 - 7.46, Mile 5 - 7.44, Mile 5 - 8.01 (long hill on that one), Mile 7 - 7.57, Mile 8 - 7.21 (starting to get back into my stride), Mile 9 - 7.48, Mile 10 - 7.43, Mile 11 - 7.21, Mile 12 - 7.32 (the end is in site, back on suburban roads and Cassiobury park seems very close), Mile 13 (and the extra .1 bit) 7.58.
What is really good, as I've said before on this blog, is if one can get support so thanks very much to James, Mark, Luisa and Milo for coming to Watford to watch the race, cheer and sound a rattle(!). Thank you so much to Luisa for making what was probably the best flapjack I've ever tasted (a cup of tea and a flapjack and lots of warm clothes and one is right-as-rain after these races...)
It goes without saying of course that they didn't know where I was at the end so missed my moment of triumph crossing the finish line in 1.40 but it is ever thus with these things. Probably the reason Francis Drake said he could 'see no ships' of the Spanish Amada coming towards England was that he'd been looking in the opposite direction at some fayre maiden at the crucial moment.
Anyway, fortunately we did meet up soon after the race, before I developed hypothermia, and went off to the junction cafe for a slap-up feast (see above).
So people to thank this week include James, Mark, Luisa and Milo for turning out to Watford and standing in the freezing cold, also again to Matt for the watch, which has now proved its worth. Thanks to Rachel for the Guiness and Bob Dylan evening (an unusual training method and one that I've not read in any running guides but which none-the-less seemed to work) and thanks again to Dad for the hills of Ischia; this half marathon was a chance to see how well the winter training had gone; the island of Ischia seems to have prepared me well for this challenge! Thanks also again to Flora for marching up those Yorkshire peaks; it's all grist to the mill. Dazed and amazed, a bit light-headed after this run and not in the best shape with the cold symptoms but really pleased to have acheived the time... onwards and upwards!