If Carlsberg Did Weekends - Middlesbrough Half Marathon Race Report

 From the glamour of Dubai it was a bump back down to earth at the Middlesbrough half marathon this weekend.  Or so you might think.  I had a brilliant time in the north-east, heading up on Friday night to stay with my mother-in law for the weekend.  Jan (mother-in-law) and River (the dog) were waiting up for me when I arrived at just after 9pm.  I had a catch-up with Jan, and cuddles (with River) before heading to bed.  

Eight hours of uninteruppted, childfree sleep later I woke up refreshed Saturday morning.  I opted to skip the parkrun, and go out for a gentle 7km run, leaving the intensity for Sunday's race.  Jan and I then went to Jean and Rick's for tea, cake and chat.  We spent a very pleasant hour there before heading home for lunch and one of the famous pies from Petch's.  It was then into the car to the beach at Skinningrove for a walk.  River made himself some new friends and we enjoyed the sea air and some sun.  We got very lucky with the weather, as soon as we got home it began to rain.

The day finished with a trip to the Royal Oak in the village for dinner with Jan, Daniel (Brother-in-law), Tori (Sister-in-law) and Roman (nephew) he was at his super smilie best.  Against all dietary advice I opted for a full Hot Shot Parmo.  Jalapneos, Chilli flakes and pepperoni all washed down with a Birra Moretti.  The pre-race dinner of champions.

A solid seven hours of rest and recovery Saturday night, I got ready for the race in peace.  Driving myself to Dan's who had kindly offered to drop me off near the start.  That all worked really smoothly and I was at the start village by 08:15 ready for the 09:00 race.  It was a little fresh when waiting to start, my garmin would later tell me it was 7 degrees but with the wind chill it felt like 0.  Once you got moving though it was perfect, very different from the 19 degrees and high humdity of Dubai a couple of weeks earlier.  Short loo queue, room to warm-up comfortably, 3,500 runners so not too busy, estimated finish time seedings that worked.  Great North Run? No thanks, give me the Middlesbrough Half Marathon everday.

Running, like almost everything in life is all about the gap between your expectation of something and the result.  For this race my confidence was starting to falter, I had been tired on runs, struggling to hit target times on effort sessions, all that hard work, was my fitness fading?  I was a bit lost on a time to target, sub 1:50, 1:45 as the stretch target.  1:50 is 5:12 km's and so I had that in mind when I positioned myself just in front of the 1:50 sign ready for the off.

The course was busy and you had to be wary of those around you, but it was definitely more spacious than Dubai.  I like to try and find myself some room, I was thinking about it during the race, ideally I am aiming for something the size of an Atlasphere from Gladiators.  In this race that was achievable for much of it, but I will have to adjust my target at the London Marathon next month, maybe the size of a hamster ball could be achievable.

I felt strong from the off, moving through the field, cautious not to trip over others, or be tripped.  Here are the splits from the first 5km:

• 1km - 4:58
• 2km - 5:04
• 3km - 4:53
• 4km - 4:58
• 5km - 4:51

Total 24:44

That 5:12 pace looked overly cautious.  I was running comfortably, my heart-rate was steady, creeping up to 162 BPM by kilometre 5 but it was in the zone.  The course was very flat, there were some minor inclines early on but nothing substantial.  1:45 is 5 minute km's and that started to come into my mind, I was feeling good.

The second 5km looked like this:

• 6km - 4:49
• 7km - 4:46
• 8km - 4:45
• 9km - 4:48
• 10km - 4:44

Total 23:52

Life was good in this section, 1:50 was now way in the rear-view mirror.  There was always the possibility I could explode, but the heartrate was holding steady in the early 160 BPM.  I was keen to get to 11km and then we could start counting down the second-half.  The crowds were good, there were definitely quiet spots on the route, particularly in the port section later on in the race, but I am happy just working away.  I did spot a great one two punch of a sign that two women had, "Go Hard" followed by her friends sign "That's what she said." With a picture of Steve Carell from the American Office.  That is my level.

The third section splits were:

• 11km - 4:40
• 12km - 4:41
• 13km - 4:43
• 14km - 4:47
• 15km - 4:51

Total 23:42

This was my I got over excitable section.  I was feeling strong and wanted to really push things on.  I attacked a short climb over a bridge a little too hard and my HR hit 170 plus, by the end of km 15 my HR was now averaging 168.  I felt sub 1:45 was well on, but there wasn't anything else to particuarly target time wise, just get it done as fast as you can and don't blow up.

The fourth section

• 16km - 4:56
• 17km - 4:50
• 18km - 4:51
• 19km - 4:54
• 20km - 4:56

Total 24:27

It was holding it together at this stage.  I had been comfortable throughout almost all of the first three quarters but this final section stung.  The drummers were a nice little pick me up and we got two bites at them with the looped nature of the route.  My pace drops by about 10 seconds a km in this section but I felt as long as I was in and around 5 minutes a km I could bring it home in a time I would be pleased with.

The finish:

• 21km - 4:42
• 400m - 1:44

Throughout the race the race signs were coming earlier than my Garmin splits, so my biggest concern was the course was going to be short, in the event the end was really long.  My Garmin was telling me I was done with the finish line still some 200 metres in the distance.  I was shattered and about ready to pull over and call it a day.  I pushed and pushed for the line, willing it to me.  Finally getting over the line in 1:43:12 I have it measuring at 13.30 miles with me crossing the half marathon at 1:41:42 but we will go with the official time of 1:43:09.

I got my medal, a bottle of water, some Haribos, ginger biscuits and some Volatrol.  A very useful little stash.  I got myself to Mcdonald's and the agreed pick up with Jan at 11am, I skipped Mcdonald's opting instead for brunch back at Jan's.  Full of bacon, sausage, french toast, beans and tea I drove the four hours home to Essex with a huge grin on my face.

Since running 1:41:55 at the Southend Half Marathon in June 2015 I had done 10 half marathon's with times varying from 1:47 to 2:44, so this weekend's 1:43 is my fastest half marathon in 11 years, and was also a minute a mile faster than my 1:57 ran at Basildon in September last year.  We keep this momentum up through to the autumn and Basildon 2026 and I will look to go sub 1:40 or better there.  For now I will enjoy the after glow from the Middlesbrough half marathon weekend.