Somewhat unusual to start the year with a half marathon distance. Home turf race though. Too convenient to give it a miss! And aha! I was pleasantly surprise to bag another personal best of 1.41 hours! Shaved off a good 2 minutes from the last HM race in Germany. It got me so motivated to keep training!
Race bib
Sign up on the website is usually possible until a day before the race, but in this case, sign-up was close 3 days prior to race day! We went 2 hours earlier to prevent any hiccup at race start.
The route
2 weeks earlier, we recce the route. A nice discovery. The route brings us pass a small village called Wilp Achterhoek round the bend. 85% of the route is on tarmac and some 3km of trail surface. Though there were some muds and soft ground, the trail was quite a nice distraction from the otherwise long route.
The pace
I had a 4.50 target in mind. Usually, i will start a little faster and hold the pace for as far as i can, before fatigue sets in. I started with approximately 4.40 pace for a good 7km, but the pace slowly increases, especially after the trail section of the route. My leg felt like “jelly”, and weak. Mentally, the 15km mark is important for me.
After hitting the 15km mark, physically, i feel stressed and strained. But mentally, i will start counting down towards the finish line telling myself that it is just another 7km, 6km, 5km, 2km and 1km to the finish line. I usually keep some reserves for the final 1km and could afford some sprints at the end. It is definitely the best feeling crossing the finish line, with a PB in the bag.
1.41 hours … i think i will take some rest now.
meysrunningjourney.com 