Wrexham half marathon “Man without a plan.”

Hey all, how’ve you been? After a tumultuous few months, my running took a nosedive in frequency, training and pace. However, I was still booked into three events – Wrexham half marathon, London marathon and Silverstone half marathon – and undecided how to approach them. If I could have deferred them again I would have, but future commitments and lack of option decided the matter for me.

Weirdly though, I found out 2 days before Wrexham that I wasn’t actually signed up due to missing last year’s deferral option! Breathing a slight sigh of relief I was tempted to stay unregistered, but coincidentally a transfer option became available through a friend of a friend of my wife.

Eh, may as well. Not going to push it anyway.

I figured to maybe aim for sub-90 despite doing near-zero training for months and below-minimal mileage, but would have been content with jogging it around in 1:40. There was a bit of pride pressure though, when I found out that about ten others of my club would be there!

Pre-race

Those of you who’ve followed me for a while know that I’m more of a racer, so the lack of races and parkruns added to my lack of enthusiasm for the longest time. But with no restrictions in place, the nostalgia of the race experience hit me as soon as I reached the race HQ; the vests, the crowds, the random smells… no place like home! Collecting the bib was a bit of a novel experience, with numbers not being pre-allocated but instead freshly assigned at the desk.

After a half-mile warm up, some stretches and a marginally-expired gel which happened to be in my bag, I was good to go.

The race

Go!

Starting in the 1:30 wave, the main nostalgia hit me; racing. It wasn’t until I set off that I realised how much I’d missed it. Comfortably at a 6:40ish pace – despite not consistently going sub-7 for at least 6 months – I soon aligned with a clubmate and we got to chatting. It turned out this was his first half marathon! We kept in sync for about 4 miles before I thought to take it slightly easier, not knowing how exhausted I’d likely get in the latter stages.

Thoughtlessly not drinking enough ahead of time, thankfully the first water station came sooner than in a normal race. A sip and a splash, and I was good to continue… except for that there was now water up my nose!

Mental note: practice throwing water on my face.

Before long, I tagged onto a couple of unrelated runners, using them as pacesetters and windbreakers though the wind was pretty gentle, a mere 4mph. Keeping at a nice 6:45ish pace now, I took in some of the signs around me, attempting to learn the Welsh language:

• Araf=Slow
• Ysgol=School
• Diwedd=End
• Kellogg’s=Cereal

Wait, what? A Kellogg’s factory is here? Cool.

That factory was about all of the scenery that was available, but no matter; I just needed to focus on my next steps.

Eventually breaking from my pack at 8 miles, I felt the hankering for an energy gel which was absent. I wasn’t tired yet, but knew I would need something to get me through the last section. Alas, I would have to make do with the water from the final station, just before hitting the country road section. Which would be the hilliest part.

Considering the amount of elevation I rack up in my neighbourhood, a mere 80 feet over 2 miles shouldn’t have been an issue. But when I: haven’t trained; had ran those 10 miles faster than I’d done in recent months; and saw everyone else around me walking, it started to play on my mind.

Can I slow to 7 min/mile? Maybe even 7:30?

For some reason, I couldn’t calculate simple maths equations so I had to do the only thing I could – persevere.

At 11 miles, I was very tempted to walk, or at least slow to 7:30 min/mile.

Come on, just make it to 12, I thought, just about maintaining 7:00 min/mile.

Before long, I heard someone thundering behind me, growing closer.

Who has this kind of energy at this point in the race?

“Hell of a kick,” I remarked, barely keeping upright as it was.

They shared they were aiming for sub-90, which I verified we were on target to achieve… although the distance covered seem to slow down and the finish line was nowhere in sight…

Were my calculations that bad? 0.2 miles left and still a minute and a half to go…

Turning a corner, the finish line appeared. Energy surged from within and the kick came upon me.

Flying to the finish, I crossed with an official time of 1:29:25.

Post-race

Yeah, it’s a far cry from 2 years ago when I achieved 1:17 – or even 1:21 halfway through a marathon – but as a sub-90 was what spurred me onto my running journey in the first place, it’s apt that it serves as the starting line for my re-commencement.

Yeah, re-commencement: this has put the fire back in my feet to resume training, perhaps aiming for sub-85 at Silverstone next month!

Strava data here.