Half Marathon of the North

Sunderland, Sunday, April 28, 2013

David Brown

I was anxious about this race, it was planned as a training run for the Edinburgh Marathon in 4 weeks, and over the past week I’d been struggling with various niggles and pulls in seemingly every muscle. However, a trip to Neil at Platinum Physio, some sound advice from various Striders, foam rolling, ice baths and a few extra days rest eventually got me to the start line. We were greeted by grey clouds, and a chilling wind that didn’t seem like dropping. As such we huddled inside the stadium in anticipation, before being lead outside (where, we soon discovered it was warmer than inside) for the accustomed Strider group photo.

Runners being accosted by an overenthusiastic spectator ...

I hadn’t initially thought of a time, aiming just to get round uninjured, and use it as a vital training run. As adrenalin pumped and I mingled with Striders, my game plan changed. I hadn’t ran an ‘official’ half since GNR 2011, where my PB was set at 1:57, long before I was a Strider. Time to change that.

I was aware that various marathon runners, usually running at pace too quick for me, were aiming for a swift time. If I could stay with them for the half, that would almost guarantee me a half PB. After an emotional minutes silence for the recent events at Boston, I honed in on a certain Alister Robson, and tried his pace. This felt good, probably quicker than I would have chosen, but I was with the pros here. I settled into the pace, checked my form and posture, my breathing was good, I was set. The niggles in my legs soon faded after about 2 miles, and I felt good. And thus we were well on our way, weaving through the scenic delights of Sunderland.

And what an enjoyable race it was, the passing and greeting of Striders on other sides of the roads and parks, offering shouts of encouragement, along with the friendly banter from Alister, Graeme and Megan made for a very satisfying run. I was surprised how quick it went, I wasn’t aware of every mile point, and fairly quickly we were at 7 miles. I remained comfortable throughout, everything felt good. I stayed with the group until around mile 12, with great encouragement and with the final bridge in sight I upped my pace, leaving the marathon runners to do their thing. I kept up a strong pace over the bridge, around the corner (and another corner, which I hadn’t accounted for) and made for sprint past the literally tens of people applauding. The time on my watch advised me I’d beat my PB by a decent 9 minutes, coming in at 1:48, so I was chuffed. The end was a tad confusing as I found myself in various queues, with seemingly no purpose apart from what appeared to be a box of bananas. As it was I then selected my shirt from a pile on a desk, was awarded a medal and goody bag (containing toothpaste & shampoo), and went off to find some pals.

Back outside, and I confusingly joined more anonymous queues (one for a massage, and another for more bananas it would seem). It was great to be able to catch some Striders passing to continue on the rest of their journey for the full marathon, all looking so strong at their halfway point! The organisation at the start and finish could do with revising, but hopefully this doorstep event will flourish and evolve, and the road running community will realise there’s more to the North East than Newcastle to South Shields!

Editor’s note: Congratulations to Christine Farnsworth for winning the 1st Female Vet 60 prize, namely a £50 Start Fitness voucher! Well done Christine! Ed.

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