Race: Inverness Half Marathon
Date: Sunday 8 March 2009
Gun time: 2:06
Chip time: 2:05

Back on the 20th anniversary of the Inverness Half Marathon they gave out commemorative towels at the finish – which were extremely useful as it was absolutely chucking it down and we were soaked to the skin.Perhaps alarm bells should have rung when this year, their 25th anniversary, they were giving out beanie hats before the race. And oh boy were hats a necessity for most of us except the very elite fast ones or the more foolhardy!

Once we had fought our way through the blizzard to the start we were off at 1pm. Miraculously the blizzard eased just before the off and so the first mile was not too bad. I made myself slow down and kept near the back of the field as I wanted to make sure I had warmed up properly and didn’t go off too fast.

Turning over the bridge and down the other side of the river we were now into a headwind. I tried to pick up the pace a bit after mile 2 and started passing a few folk who had obviously gone off a bit too fast. (So easy to do – I have to conciously make myself slow down at the start of every race). I stopped for water at the first water stop which in hindsight I probably didn’t need to do considering it was really cold and dehyrdation was unlikely to be a problem! I always need to actually stop at the water stations as they give out the water in cups and I have yet to master the fine art of running and drinking from a plastic cup at the same time without losing most of the contents down my tshirt.

Anyway I kept a good pace up for the next 3 miles and up a gradual hill which, if you’re not familiar with the course, can be a bit of surprise if you’re expecting the course to pancake flat. At home, all my usual running routes are undulating and therefore, although I’m not fast overall, I find I can keep my pace on the hills as I’m so used to an undulating route. So I always end up passing a few people on this incline out of Inverness (although I’m sure they most likely overtake me again later on the flat!).

I was pleased to be keeping pace between 8:40 and 9:00 m/m for the next few miles and felt I might be on course for a sub 2 hr which would be a PB for me. There is usually a clock at the halfway point so I was slightly thrown when there was no halfway marker or clock (there might have been – I’m not always the most observant!). My garmin watch was set to show me pace and, knowing my ability to trip over my own feet, run into lampposts etc, I didn’t want to start fiddling with my watch to see the time (I know, I know – should have practised it before race day..).

The next bit of the course for me is the most psychologically challenging – I always want to slow down on this stretch – maybe because you’re turning back on yourself (and into the wind again) – I don’t know but I always struggle on this bit and have to concentrate on pace and style to keep going. There is one steep incline along this bit but I kept reminding myself that soon there would be a nice big downhill section where I could stretch out a bit. Thankyou weather – by the time I got to the beginning of the downhill section the sleet was blowing in my face and the sweat was stinging my eyes – I can’t imagine what I looked like – fortunately the photographer had moved on from this spot before I got there! I forced myself to stretch out on the downhill promising myself a quick stop at the next water station. I took my second gel at this water station, which again in hindsight was probably unnecessary, and probably cost me a bit of time.

By mile 10 you start to feel you’re on the homeward straight and again I tried to pick up the pace again and was averaging 8:45 – 8:55 m/m. I should have been prepared but wasn’t for the headwind when again we went back over the bridge in the middle of Inverness and down the riverside. Every year I have run this race these last 2 miles have been a pure grind into wind. This year they’d made a nice little tweak to the course so you turned up towards the finish a bit sooner but this last stretch is still mentally challenging. I obviously looked so scary at this point that the poor photographer, cowering for some shelter in the few trees along the side of the playing fields, decided not to inflict my image upon his digital camera as I am nowhere to be found in the race photos. But I was there honest! The last bit involved a bit of dodging pedestrians and runners who had already finished (some probably quite some time ago) and then it was onto the stadium finish which is brilliant.

Was a bit gutted to see the finish clock as I had felt I was keeping a sub 9m/m pace. But on reflection I can see that the parts of the run into the headwind and my stops at the water stations would have cost me time and considering the conditions (and the fact I’d run 15 miles the previous Sunday which probably wasn’t the best race preparation) I was reasonably pleased. A race like this certainly toughens you up a bit and no doubt I will probably be back next year for another go.

I’m going to suggest they hand out sunglasses next year!

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