As I mentioned, I am training for the Boston Marathon.
Part of that training was to do a half marathon. Fast.
So North London turned out to be the one for me to add to the plan.
It started on a fairly chilly morning but being in the first wave allowed me some space to warm up. I don't recall too many races where I have been literally on the start line but this was now one of them.
We were off. Into what I now know are the hills of North London. We climbed away from Wembley Stadium into areas which I am not sure the name of. I know we passed Colindale tube station a couple of times so I guess we were around there.
Just before the three mile marker we were descending a pretty long and steep hill. I noticed that the road was totally blocked off and we were being kept to the right side only. Yikes. I knew what that meant. It would mean we would be coming back up the other side and if the course was a loop out and back then this point in the course would be about ten miles in. That would be tough.
We got to the bottom of the hill and passed the three mile mark. I would deal with the ascend later. In about 7 miles time to be precise.
I don't remember too much about the rest of the course except that the half way point was a three quarter loop of the track inside the Alianz stadium. It was a nice touch to hear your name by the commentator and see yourself of the big screen as you went to exit the stadium.
Soon enough we were back to the bottom of aforementioned hill. It hurt climbing it. Especially as I was running alone and there was no crowd support. I made it to the summit and was on the home stretch. The crowd become thicker (well there were some people at least!)
I then was approaching Wembley Stadium for the finish. The course took as half way around the outside of the stadium before we could enter it. I swore a little. Where was the end?
The final lap in the stadium felt great though and I crossed the line. My result was good and much better than the last half back in Havana. Maybe rum isn't such a good race prep method after all?
Time: 1 hour 22 minutes 16 seconds
Place: 51st (out of about 7,000 I believe)
Part of that training was to do a half marathon. Fast.
So North London turned out to be the one for me to add to the plan.
It started on a fairly chilly morning but being in the first wave allowed me some space to warm up. I don't recall too many races where I have been literally on the start line but this was now one of them.
We were off. Into what I now know are the hills of North London. We climbed away from Wembley Stadium into areas which I am not sure the name of. I know we passed Colindale tube station a couple of times so I guess we were around there.
Just before the three mile marker we were descending a pretty long and steep hill. I noticed that the road was totally blocked off and we were being kept to the right side only. Yikes. I knew what that meant. It would mean we would be coming back up the other side and if the course was a loop out and back then this point in the course would be about ten miles in. That would be tough.
We got to the bottom of the hill and passed the three mile mark. I would deal with the ascend later. In about 7 miles time to be precise.
I don't remember too much about the rest of the course except that the half way point was a three quarter loop of the track inside the Alianz stadium. It was a nice touch to hear your name by the commentator and see yourself of the big screen as you went to exit the stadium.
Soon enough we were back to the bottom of aforementioned hill. It hurt climbing it. Especially as I was running alone and there was no crowd support. I made it to the summit and was on the home stretch. The crowd become thicker (well there were some people at least!)
I then was approaching Wembley Stadium for the finish. The course took as half way around the outside of the stadium before we could enter it. I swore a little. Where was the end?
The final lap in the stadium felt great though and I crossed the line. My result was good and much better than the last half back in Havana. Maybe rum isn't such a good race prep method after all?
Time: 1 hour 22 minutes 16 seconds
Place: 51st (out of about 7,000 I believe)
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