The Battle of Evermore

To Hastings then I came...

From the build up I'd dreaded this and it turned out to be my best half marathon yet!
Hastings, it has to be said, is a great place. I hadn't been there for years but it's got a lovely pebbly beach, the old town is really interesting and quirky and I think the night-life is pretty good if you're looking for that sort of thing (marathon runners have to go to bed at about 7pm ;o)). But don't just take my word for it - go and visit, make a weekend of it (I know some good B&Bs I can recommend!), if it's the weekend of the half marathon I might just see you there...
So, rather than building up the stress this time, I'll just tell you my times and then you can sit back and enjoy the rest of this blog! As you know, 'if you're a frequent listener to this programme', in previous blogs we've seen how my PB had gone from 1.47 set in Japan to 1.40 at both Watford and Berkhamstead; well on this occasion as the home straight loomed into view we managed to put down the pedal on the gas and knock off a further 2 minutes, coming in at 1.38.02! So overall we're 9 minutes faster since this whole exercise began.

What a great race though and what amazing support. I'd woken up in my B&B that morning feeling nervous only to tune in the radio to find Howard Jones telling me not to: 'crack up or bend my brain' it was good advice and at that point I decided to just enjoy the experience even if was going to be like running up the side of Everest!
Lining up at the start just seemed so different from the other half marathons: people seemed relaxed, cheerful, chatting to each-other, it was a bit of a carnival atmosphere with all the stalls at the start and the runners dressed as ghost busters or teenage mutant ninja turtles! The whole of Hastings seemed to have come out to support the race. There was music, DJs, bands and people handing out half-time oranges. The kids lined the roads to high-five any runner they could get to respond. One church seemed to have adopted the approach of 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' and had simply moved its service outside, waving to the runners as they sang their hymns; nice.
There were about 5000 or more runners and yes for most of the way it was one long steep hill but of course as we know, 'what goes up must come down' and on the downward slopes I really managed to pick up some speed, which I think helped my time overall. So here's the breakdown: Mile one - 8.38 (it was a slow start and there were a lot of people to get past. I think the placing had broken down a bit), mile two - 8.23, mile three - 7.22, mile four - 8.14, mile five - 8.07, mile six - 7.32, mile seven - 7.23, mile eight - 7.00, mile nine - 7.21, mile ten - 6.26, mile eleven - 6.41 (you can see how the down hill helped!), mile twelve - 7.14 (along the sea front now feeling a zen moment of unconnectedness and total connectedness - now there's a paradox), mile thirteen (and the .1 bit) - 7.33 - total time 1 hour 38 mins 2 seconds.
Thanks very much to Rachel and her folks for food, hospitality, a roaring fire and for looking after a wandering marathon runner. When you make your trip to Hastings go and check out gallery 53 in the High Street (this is also a B&B). Thanks also to Rachel for further attempts to lead me astray onto the Guiness as well as her photography skills - more pictures of the half marathon to follow.
Hastings gets the thumbs up from me. The battle of Hastings was not quite the rout I feared though doubtless running remains the Battle of Evermore...