East Beach Norfolk Half Marathon

I can’t believe we’re already into the month of February. Is it just me who’s thinking “What happened to January?” I also can’t believe the Norfolk Half Marathon is my fifth race in the first 32 days of 2008!

If I wind the clock back 12 months, I was probably in the best shape of my life, and somehow ran my one and only sub-1 hour 20 minute half marathon. This year, I knew I wasn’t anywhere close to the same fitness level, so my realistic goal for the race was a finish time of 1 hour 24 minutes (6:24 per mile pace). I arrived at the event venue around 7am, allowing plenty of time to pick up my race packet (bib number and race t-shirt) and to warm up for 10-15 minutes. Weather conditions were ideal – a little chilly, but hardly any wind and the sun threatening to break through what little clouds were in the sky. I managed a 2 mile warm up which helped loosen my legs and elevate my heart rate and felt pretty good apart from the usual sore right shin, which I decided to tape up to minimize the pain.

Before I knew it we were lining up on the start line, and after a couple of minutes delay, we were off. Due to a last minute course change, the first mile was rerouted through the picturesque East Beach neighborhood and somehow I managed to run a 6:02 mile instead of the planned 6:24! Although it felt easy, I knew there were still 12 miles of racing to go, so eased off the gas and tried to settle in to a good rhythm.

At 6 minutes 8 seconds, mile 2 was almost as crazy as the first, so ignoring what my body was telling me, I backed off even more. Come on Steve, stick to the plan 🙂 Even this early in the race the field had spread out and I found myself pretty much alone, but this was soon to change as I was joined by the second and third overall female in the race. One of them asked if I minded her being on my shoulder, to which I replied “no, you’ll probably be ahead of me pretty soon anyway”. She said she was hoping to maintain 6:15 per mile pace (which I thought would be a bit quick for me over the 13.1 miles), so I wished her a good race and focused on maintaining my own pace.

Mile 3 and 4 were completed in 6:17 and 6:15 respectively – still a bit quick, but it felt so good! Mile 5 and 6 were fairly consistent too – 6:19 and 6:17 – and by now we were nearly at the turn around point. I love out and back courses as you can (a) see how many people are ahead of you, (b) see how good or bad they’re looking and (c) cheer on your wife and friends on the way back! The leaders were already approaching mile 7 as I passed mile 6 and it always amazes me how effortless some of these guys appear at speeds almost a minute a mile quicker than me.

I counted down the leaders as I approached the turn – one, two, three four five, six, seven, eight, nine ten, eleven, twelve……and I was in 16th. Not bad, but there were plenty of runners still close enough behind to pose a threat in the closing 6 miles. I still had 2 of the top 3 female runners right next to me and was determined to stay with them as long as possible. Maybe that’s why I ran a 6:11, 6:03, 6:07 and 6:03 mile to complete mile 10 of the race 🙂 Looking back, it didn’t feel that fast, but I must have been way out of my current fitness zone as at mile 10 I think I invented the half marathon wall!

My legs didn’t feel like my own, my breathing became labored and I started to overstride – a sure sign that my race was almost over with 3 miles left to run. Also, at about this point, the second place female quickened her pace and made a move for the first place female. I tried to stay with her but my body was having none of it. Luckily other runners were also suffering and I managed to catch a couple of guys before we reached the 11 mile mark and the shade of the East Beach neighborhood. I was surprised to see mile 11 was a 6:10 – not too slow considering how bad I felt.

Two miles to go and although the twists and turns of the race route were not exactly what my legs were asking for, but I managed to dig deep and record 2 consecutive 6:09 miles. Until I saw the finish clock I had no idea what my time would be. Throughout the race I hadn’t paid much attention to my mile splits (I only found out my times after downloading my Garmin 305 to my computer), and was surprised to see 1:21 something on the clock. I crossed the line in 1:21:31 (gun time) and ended up with an official race time of 1:21:30 – 2 and a half minutes faster than my goal and a bonus age group win to boot!

As you can imagine I’m very happy with the performance and it’s a great confidence booster as I begin another training week. Now I need to log some long runs (didn’t I say that last week?) and start thinking about the Shamrock Marathon in 6 weeks time!