The Berkhamsted Half Marathon

13.1 miles in 1:42:03 (PB)

A special day for me and undoubtedly my best running performance to date.

The last time I ran a half marathon was in Windsor in 2005. Illness kept me out of Windsor 2006, but I’ve always wanted to improve on my 2:04:45 time (an achievement at the time, but out of step with recent efforts). Today I smashed that personal best by over 22 minutes!

I am really, really, really pleased with this time. The conditions in Berkhamsted were not exactly optimal. As expected, it was raining hard from the start and I got thoroughly soaked. My knee was also very sore, but I was determined to run through it and prove that I could set a good half-marathon time.

About 1000 people took part. It seemed well organised (apart from there being only 6 toilets – apparently an increase on last year!) and the atmosphere was good, despite the rain. I spotted a few other Serpies around the start line and we nodded hello to each other. Stephen was running with me.

The course was very hilly. There were at least 3 or 4 long climbs and some fast downhill stretches too. I think all those Saturday mornings have paid off because I cruised up the hills, passing plenty of people on the way. I had to be a little more careful downhill, as my knee is very weak. It nearly gave out a couple of times and I had to slow right down until it settled.

Stephen and I ran together until about mile 6 when he had to slow down, owing to a painful foot injury he is struggling with. We had been doing a brisk 8 minute mile pace, which I wanted to keep up. I was conscious that this could be a unique opportunity to set a good PB. It’s unlikely that I will ever train this hard for a half marathon again!

After Stephen had dropped back, I followed someone from the St Albans’ Striders for a while (nice vests guys) and hit the mile markers roughly every 8 minutes. I enjoyed the uphill sections the most – energy was not a problem and I was full of confidence following all that hill training. I got a bit carried away around mile 10 and sprinted off down a hill past a chap in a black and white football shirt “No fair!” he said “You’ve got longer legs than me!”.

It was around this point that I realised that I was no longer running – I was racing! A new experience for me, but one I enjoyed immensely. We ended up passing each other a couple of times, but I left him for dead at around mile 12 when I began what I can only describe as a ‘textbook’ finish. The course by now was largely downhill and I picked up the pace. I couldn’t believe how strong I felt. I got into another race with a short guy in a hat. We fought for position 3 or 4 times but I took him out about a half mile before the end.

I had enough left in me for a tidy sprint finish (got to make it look good for the crowds) and cruised, elated, across the finish line. I expect I was beaten by hundreds of people (I’ll post the results when I know them) but I was proud to be a Serpie and to be wearing my club shirt.

I received my medal, scoffed a banana and had some water. As soon as I stopped I became conscious how hard it was raining. I had been concentrating so hard on the race that I had pretty much ignored the fact for the last few miles.

Stephen finished about 4 minutes behind me and found me stretching against the club house. He was limping badly but had still set an excellent time of 1:46. We headed straight for the station and were lucky enough to step directly on a train to London (neither of us were up for a long wait on a cold platform).

It’s been a brilliant day! Marathon training is so hard, but when you see the results of that hard work translate into a good performance then it all becomes worth it.

There’s still a lot of work to do, but today has given me confidence. The next time I cross a start line will be the London Marathon itself on 22 April. I won’t be running that anywhere near as quickly as I ran Berkhamsted, but I will be putting in just as much effort.

Happy chappy: a wet JD at the end of the Berkhamsted Half