(RunThrough, who organise the event, like to call this one the ‘Newcastle Half Marathon’, which is the worst name in the world given that (a) it’s 95% out in the countryside and (b) there’s already a much much much more famous half marathon that starts in Newcastle. I will call it what everyone in the local area actually calls it, which is the Kingston Park half.)
I wasn’t expecting much going into this race. Training has been near-nonexistent the last few weeks for reasons I won’t go into, and like most people, I don’t run well in the heat. It was nowhere near as hot today as it has been in recent weeks, and certainly not as hot as it is down south, but 18 degrees at 9am is still too warm for an ideal running performance and we most definitely felt it out there on the unshaded asphalt. So, excuses in early, let’s go.
The 10k and half marathon runners start together, self-seeding by appropriate pace. The first three miles leading up to the 10k turnaround point (or at least the last mile or so of that stretch once the fast lads start coming back the other way) are actually interesting, as you can watch out for 10k runners you know (although in my case today that was Geth and Geth only, as all the other 10k runners I knew were behind me). After the 10kers left us it was a bit lonelier – just a few quiet half marathoners around me as we plodded further up the road and around the midway lollipop section. Still, I prefer that to over-congestion like we had in Toronto.
As I had decided very early on that it was far too hot for any heroics and I just needed to keep it steady and consistent, I genuinely really enjoyed most of the running. The only big issue I had was that when I grabbed my nutrition flask of Tailwind for the second time at mile six, I found it had emptied itself (this is a longstanding problem that I now accept will have to be solved by purchasing new flasks), and so I was completely reliant on the water stations for the rest of the race – not ideal on a hot day, and of course it also meant I wasn’t taking in the usual planned calories. Another issue was some bad road texture around mile nine that meant I could feel every painful spot and developing blister through my carbons, but in general there wasn’t much to complain about on this course – even the promised hills weren’t that noticeable. Strangely, even though I was a bit slower, I found the race was absolutely flying by compared to the last half I did in Toronto.
That all ended at mile twelve. Mile twelve was the most brutal mile twelve I have ever experienced in a half marathon. It felt like it took longer to run than the whole of the eleven miles leading up to it! It was just so long and empty and unshaded and the heat was getting hotter and all my late-race energy that had surprised me during miles ten and eleven had just dissipated.
Mile thirteen was okay again though. I knew from a glance at the watch that sub-2 was off the table so I didn’t bother stepping it up – just cruised in and was surprised by the finish line arriving quicker than expected.
So no season’s best today, for a few reasons. I am still proud of a steady and consistent performance given the circumstances 🎉
Some takeaways:
- While I’m not ruling out summer races forever because they do have a lovely atmosphere about them, I might give them a miss again next year.
- I can’t wait to get started on my next training block, which will contain two B races leading up to my autumn A race at Chester Metric Marathon. It starts tomorrow with day 1 of a recovery week, and then I can start building up from week 2. I’ll be doing a few things differently this time, such as lots of steady pace runs, hill sessions and summer runexploring.
- Other than the stupid flask, I do feel I’ve cracked the nutrition-related nausea issue I was having last year. I’ll keep an eye on things as I build up (hopefully) towards a spring marathon in 2027.
- I feel the 1:50 half goal is too ambitious for my one remaining half this year (the GNR), especially as that’s now a B race, and so I’ll likely be targeting a return to 1:55ish instead. As such, the aforementioned spring marathon may not be a sub-4 attempt (if you’ve been following along, you’ll remember the sub-4 marathon is my primary long-term goal) but instead a sub-4:05 or sub-4:10 attempt as a stepping stone along the way. This decision will largely depend on what happens at Chester, where my goal is to maintain sub-4 marathon pace (9ish min miles) for the whole 16 miles.
Next B race is in three weeks’ time, where I’m all but guaranteed a PB due to not having raced the distance since 2018… but you never know, so I can’t be complacent! Lots of work to do, but it’s fun work.
