Leeds Half Marathon 2015

Having declared that I wasn't running any half marathons this year, it's a little bit odd to find myself writing a review of one.  In fact, only two months ago I would have told you to get stuffed if you had suggested that I should enter a 13.1 mile race.  My aim was clear, 2015s training would be 100% focused on the York Marathon and I'd run a handfull of 10ks as part of that preparation.  All of that changed 8 weeks back when I got an email from Run for All asking me to confirm my details for the Leeds half.

I assumed it was a mistake as I had signed up for their Ultimate Season ticket to make sure I got a Marathon place*.  I clicked on the link and sure enough I had entered, on the 12th May 2014, one day after last year's race.  In the box marked "Why have you entered" I had written "I'm still buzzing from yesterday's race, bring on 2015."  I had been a fool.

Last year I had trained for 26 long weeks and had managed to beat my predicted 2 hour finish time coming in in 1:57:49.  I decided not to chase my PB but to try to achieve 2 hours again.  I upped my distance running, added hills, and added some speed work over short distances.  The 8 weeks went by very quickly and my last long run, last weekend, was upon me before I knew where I was.  I hadn't allowed myself much tapering time, 2 more weeks would have been great.

Then yesterday morning I joined up with around 9000 people to take on the streets of Leeds.  My pre-race nerves vanished as soon as we got to the holding pens on Millennium Square.  Up until then I was raring to get going, to leave the house on time, to get a parking space, but once I was amongst other runners I knew what was ahead of me and relaxed.

It helped that I met some of the South Leeds Lakers and Farsley Flyers for a chat before the race.  This time last year I was alone, didn't know the route, and didn't really think that I had it in me.  This time I was with a new bunch of friends, could visualise every corner and hill on the route and knew that with a decent pace I'd make it around in 2 hours.

A lot of the conversation was around the organisation of the race numbers.  You get used to this kind of thing at big events but something wasn't quite right.  Normally you get grouped by your anticipated finish time but that didn't seem to be the case, with people I knew would be faster than me starting in groups long after I was due to set off.  I didn't let it worry me though as come the start of the race you can only worry about yourself anyway.

The Red pen watched from the icy shadow of Leeds Library as first the wheelchair race, then the elite runners, followed by those wearing Blue numbers set off.  The wait to get underway was tense but we were moving soon enough.  I knew all too well that I would set off too fast but tried to keep well within myself.  The number of people around me, plus having to run up the Headrow should have slowed me down but I was already a minute under my pace by the time I got through the first mile.  The second mile saw another second fall from my target time, it was only the slog up Stonegate that brought an end to my meteoric start.

But although I had slowed down I was still managing to keep chipping away at the clock.  By the time I had scaled the Ring Road to Lawnswood I had three minutes in the bag.  Three minutes to slow down and still make 1 hour and 50 minutes, beating last year's time.  But I knew that the race was down hill from here.  I had taken a lot out of my legs, pushing too hard from the start but if I could just find a little bit more, 2 more minutes over 5 miles had to be achievable.

At 8k I was passed by Daryl who shouted encouragement as he sped past me into the distance.  A little later on John sauntered alongside me and had a bit of a chat before setting off to see if he could hunt down the 105 pace runner who almost ran me off the road on Butchers Hill.  By this time I was beginning to curse the tarmac under my feet.  My taped up knees were still ok but there was very little left in my legs and I was now on Kirkstall Road, the most boring stretch of road I have ever run on.

There is nothing inspiring on Kirkstall Road, nothing to keep you going, nothing to push against, very little to look at.  It's just you and the road.  My head was dipping as I tried to up my cadence, a final push past Yorkshire TV.  The last "hill", the slip road into town was soon upon me as was the stupidest running injury.  Further up the road I could see a fallen runner recieving first aid and on the other side of the road an ambulance had pulled up to help.  I decided to run around the ambulance so that the paramedics could get to the prone runner and as I passed, the door opened and I ran into it, spinning me through 360 degrees but not quite knocking me off my feet.

No sooner had I shaken off the embarrassment than I started to see familiar faces in the crowd. Jenny and Anna, Thomas, Phil, and Rich, all cheering me towards the final 400m.  My eyes were on stalks scanning the sea of faces for Zoe and Rhys who I found on the home straight.  I checked my watch one last time and realised that I had paused it when I hit the ambulance door.

Luckily it was still running and told me that I had a minute left.  A minute to get across the line in under 1 hour and 45 minutes.  The rest of the crowd may as well have not been there, I was on my own in a bubble of silence.  I saw the finish clock but it made no sense, it was counting from the start of the elite race after all.  I crossed the line, stopped my watch and stumbled towards the water stations and the Nicola Adams' Olympic postboxes, my prearranged meeting point.

I leant on the barriers to cheer home more of the Lakers and Flyers and took stock of what I had achieved.  My phone went off with a text from Run for All confirming that I had finished in 1:44:47.  Faster than last year, a new PB, and under 1:45.  Everything I wanted and more.

There may well be a half marathon in my plans for next year but it won't be Leeds.  I have still got to run along Kirkstall Road twice more this year (Leeds 10k and the Abbey Dash) and then I'm giving it a rest for a year, unless I accidently enter a race and forget about it again.

*The Leeds half isn't included in the season ticket for some reason.