A few months ago I was emailed by the team at Meridian to let me know that they were going to be the title sponsor for this year's Windsor half marathon. In the email they asked me if I would like to run as part of their team, which I agreed to and set this as my final "A" race of the season. Aside from racing in my local duathlon series, which I treat as training, I hadn't raced in an "A" race since Cleaveland Steeleman 70.3 triathlon, at the end of July. This race was perfect to keep me focused until then as I typically end my season in September and treat myself to a few weeks R&R. I like I had been able to training consistently for the last few months and was feeling really fit. So I was hoping to set a new PB for the 21 km.
During the last 6 weeks my training had been going really well, I was feeling the fittest I had been in a while and felt really strong. In the final week leading up to the half marathon, training was going really well and I was full of confidence as I won the last duathlon of the season mid-week, by almost a minute! It was time for me to taper down ahead on Sunday's race, with a recovery spin on the Thursday, day off on Friday followed by a 30 minute Fartlek on the Saturday.
Early Saturday morning Sally and I got up got in the car and headed to Princes Risborough (Bucks.) as we had planned to catch up with family during the day before heading to the hotel ahead of the race on Sunday. We made really good time and arrived just after 1 pm, perfect timing for lunch. It was lovely to catch up with all the family as I hadn't seen them for a while. We left my Aunties just after 6 pm and made our way to the hotel, where other team members were staying. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a table in the restaurant until much later than the Meridian guys, so Sally and I just ate together.
Race day - I woke up feeling good and started to enjoy my pre-race breakfast, whilst refreshing myself of the race route. The route is a two loop route, with the first loop slightly shorter than the second ~ 4 miles and ~ 7.5 miles, respectively. Once I finished breakfast we headed down to the restaurant to get my compulsory pre-race coffee and so Sally could have her breakfast. We were staying just outside Windsor, but were told to still allow plenty of time to get to the race. I'm glad we did as even 90 minutes before the race the queue for the car park was rather large!! We parked up and headed to the Meridian tent just before 9 am (race start was 10 am), perfect timing for the team photos.
With about 30-minutes to go I had my double espresso caffeine gel, just to give me that extra boost before starting my warm-up. With about 10 minutes to go the race organizers called us to the start line. I positioned myself as close to the front as possible just behind the elite runners!! With a few minutes to go the race organizers announced that there was going to be a 5-10 minute delay, I didn't let this effect me and just tried to keep warm. The race organizers held us at the start line before giving us a count down. The klaxon sounded and we were off! The first mile was up a gradual rise heading away from Windsor Castle. As I approached the top of the climb I could hear my name being shouted, it was only a mate from home in Somerset, who I used to play cricket with, crazy!! At the top of the climb the route levelled off as we started the first of the two loops. Once it levelled off I was able to settle into a comfortable pace, the pace which I was hoping to maintain throughout.
With about 30-minutes to go I had my double espresso caffeine gel, just to give me that extra boost before starting my warm-up. With about 10 minutes to go the race organizers called us to the start line. I positioned myself as close to the front as possible just behind the elite runners!! With a few minutes to go the race organizers announced that there was going to be a 5-10 minute delay, I didn't let this effect me and just tried to keep warm. The race organizers held us at the start line before giving us a count down. The klaxon sounded and we were off! The first mile was up a gradual rise heading away from Windsor Castle. As I approached the top of the climb I could hear my name being shouted, it was only a mate from home in Somerset, who I used to play cricket with, crazy!! At the top of the climb the route levelled off as we started the first of the two loops. Once it levelled off I was able to settle into a comfortable pace, the pace which I was hoping to maintain throughout.
The first few miles were relatively non-eventful, I was just keen to make sure that I took fluids on from every water station as it was warm and quite sunny, so didn't want to end up too dehydrated. As I approached the 4-mile marker the road started to climb up, this was quite tough, but there were plenty of spectators out at this section as close to where on the second lap I would turn for the finish! The crowd gave me a good boost and I was even able to spot Sally who gave me some words on encouragement. The route leveled off again and I was now approaching the sweep wagon from some of the slower runners, who still had a long way to go. As I passed the back markers I tried my best to offer them with some encouragement.
My route now forked left as I started the second longer loop. This took me along one of the main roads toward the race course, where the Royals come in when its Windsor races, then along part of the Windsor triathlon route (typically shown on TV). This helped take my mind off the effort!! Although I made sure I kept a certain level of concentration, so as not to subconsciously slow down. This part of the course seemed to have the majority of hills which really made things that much tougher!! At around 10 miles in I started to catch a small group of runners and for the next few miles we started to alternate position. I tended to drop back slightly on the uphill's but then caught up and at some points took the lead on the flats and downhills. As I passed mile 12 I knew that all that was left was the uphill climb, before the final stretch to the start finish line. With that I decided to kick on and push for the final mile and a bit of the race. There were still plenty on spectators lining this part of the course, which really helped. I then turned left and headed along the "Long Walk" to the finish. Fortunately this was mostly slightly downhill so I kept pushing as hard as possible. With about 500 m to go someone passed me and said to me keep pushing as you're on for a 1:26 something, this helped massively as I knew that this would better my PB by about a minute, so I grit my teeth and pushed on. As I got closer I could see the time over the finish line and knew I had achieved my goal of setting a new PB!!
I crossed the line in a time of 1:26:46, a new PB!! So was buzzing for that!! I came in the top 60 out of a field of ~4400 runners, so again buzzing with that!!
Super happy with a new PB and a Meridian bar as I crossed the finish!
As always a massive thanks to my sponsors Meridian Foods, who invited me to race for them. Coconoil and to my coach Ian Mayhew (Gears & Tears).
