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Rugby Half Marathon (story + videos + stats)
🕑 Added 2023-10-04 14:55:32 +0000 UTCHere are the results from my recent half marathon for those who were interested.
And here's a video of me mid way through and then crossing the finish line: https://youtu.be/dimv-bl_LRU
To sum it up in one sentence, it was the most pain I've ever been in a race.
I'd been a bit under the weather coming into this one but I'd overcome the worst of the cold and was confident that with the help of my new Hoka Rocket shoes I could add to the surprisingly quick 5K (19:00) and Hilly 10K (41:45) times that I'd achieved recently, and beat my PB of 1:32:52 from back in 2016.
Feeling good on the starting line I set off, more than happy to stay with the 1:30:00 pacer for the first 2 miles or so. But that's when I realised that I was a bit fucked.
The rest of the race was a mental battle I'd never experienced the likes of. It was quite a hilly, two lap course and by the time we came back into Rugby at the end of the first lap I was seriously struggling. The problem was I knew that my PB was still possible, so I battled on. Recently I missed my Park Run PB by 2 seconds and I was determined not to let anything like that happen again.
Needless to say the second lap was absolutely horrible and not helped by a complete inability to breathe through my nose which made drinking water extremely difficult. All I could think about was the final 3 miles which were on a flat ex-railway path. Here I could summon some late adrenaline, get into a rhythm and make up for lost time. I was wrong though. It turned out to be the hardest 3 miles I've ever ran. Every fibre of my body wanted to slow down but I couldn't because my questionable ongoing calculations were telling me that I could actually still beat my PB. If I didn't give it my absolute all and I missed it by a second again, I'd be fuming with myself.
I should say that it probably wasn't healthy what I was doing to my poor ticker. I don't know if a 174bpm average heart rate is healthy, I suppose I'd need to know my max heart rate for a scientific analysis, but I did go quite dizzy at one point.
I realised with half a mile to go that the PB wasn't gettable which was relieving in a way because I could concentrate fully on looking forward to it being over. Absolutely powerless to stop a man who I'd been battling with passing me yards before the line, I finished at a respectable 1:33:37 and collapsed into a semi-delirious heap on the grass.
It's hard to come up with a closing message for this one. I'm proud of myself for battling on and going as hard as I could in the face of some strong demons, and that will no doubt help me loads in future races, but I actually think I may have overdone it this time.
What do you reckon? Have you had a similar experience? Let me know in the comments.
Cheers for reading everyone and remember, never give up!
Comments
Stuart Duncan
You’re an inspiration! I’ve only done a handful of 1/2 marathons and one marathon and watching and hearing about your different races, along with all the ups and downs, is so inspiring.
Zach Droy
the ending is my old schools sports field, this is so odd😂
Artichokio
Just to be a contrarian, i'm going to say do better, you suck. Kidding kidding. Thats still a good time and one you should be proud of. Maybe you can call this your "sick PB" so if you get sick for the next race you can try to beat that one.
I had a very similar feeling when I did my first 10K race. I had prepared quite well (running was fairly new to me) but stayed light on food because I didn't want it to be in my way.. Well the start was great and I was flying, until the cold temperatures took a grip on me and it was an enormous struggle until the end, getting overstaken by countless people topping off the mental pain. You learn from it though.
Those hills look pretty mental! Absolutely give yourself a few days rest hey mate. Additionally, today is the day I learned why the sport is called 'Rugby'. Cheers for that
Shaun Curtis
Nice work dude! At my best I could only manage 2 - 3 miles before being close to the grave lol
