A rare return to the road this month to run the North Lincs half which is held in the town I grew up in (not so sunny) Scunthorpe.
The main draw of this race was to run with three of my oldest friends Mark, Ben and Chris. They each had their own goals for the race with Mark looking to go under 90 minutes for the first time, Ben looking for a pb and Chris looking to finish his first half. I decided to run in my Scunthorpe United colours in a cynical ploy to get more jelly babies on the course. Ben had opted for the old school singlet in an attempt to channel his Normanby Park AC under 12s form and Mark was obviously chasing the fetish support having gimped up in a ravishing pair of comedy black foot marigolds (vibrams).
We shivered together on the start line in the pouring rain for what seemed like forever before we were finally off, around 1,500 runners streaming out of town and onto the country roads.
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| Poser - note marigolds on the left |
Mark and I decided to run together as I was feeling pretty confident about going under 90 minutes and it worked well as we paced each other for the first 10 miles. The weather even eased a little after an hour or so and the yellow flowering fields of rape looked spectacular with the purple storm clouds as a backdrop. The route is fast and flat and passes through the villages of Butterwick and Burringham before heading East back to Scunthorpe with a lap of the pitch at fortress Glanford Park, home of Scunthorpe United to finish. The shirt drew a few cheers from the hardy supporters braving the downpour on the route.
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| A pacy peacock |
As 10 miles approached we were well on track for Mark's sub 90 target and I realised if i got a wriggle on i could still have a crack at my own pb so I decided to push on and see what i could do. I was able to make up some time but a combinaton of my recent heavy mileage, a lingering cold and a return of the maelstrom for a testing last mile meant I just missed out.
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| Mark digging deep for the final mile |
In the end i was pretty satisfied with 1.28.18 on the day given i have mostly been running slow and long on trails this year. The time didn't really matter, the best thing about this race was sharing it with my mates and it was awesome to be there with them and see them achieve.
Mark followed me home soon after I'd finished breaking the 90 minute mark for the first time despite a tough last few miles. Equal kudos goes to Ben who blasted to a 10 minute pb and some nicely chafed nipples to sneak under 1.45 and Chris getting home looking fresh as a daisy in his first half marathon.
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| Shiny |
I think putting a decent dent in my Half Marathon pb is going to require a different approach with some focussed training targeted to take me under 1.25. All of this mileage for the trail ultras is great for endurance but not very good for improving speed over these shorter distances on the road. Its quite cool though to feel like there are potentially faster HM times in there waiting to be extracted!
Although there were one or two issues with parking and some examples of rather militant stewarding, if you are after a fast half you can't go far wrong with this one and the finish in the stadium adds a nice touch. Well done to everyone who braved the elements especially the heroic marshalls.
Next up a tough marathon in the mountains at the Howgills Trails 26 before the big one fewer than 6 weeks away!
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