So, Sunday was my first ever half marathon, and what a location! Being a Formula 1 fan, having the opportunity to race around a Formula 1 track, albeit on foot, was always going to appeal. So instead of picking a more sensible nearby half-marathon to try, I went for this one instead.
Welcome to Silverstone
Note: All photos (except for ones on the track without me in) were taken by Steve and post-processed by me. You can click on any photo/image to see a much bigger and clearer version.
We stayed in a hotel nearby the night before so as to avoid the long drive up to Silverstone before the race. This turned out to be a good move, especially as there were queues to get into the car parks.
When I got out the car the first thing I noticed was that it was blowing a gale, and it was bloody freezing. Oh great. I got myself ready then posed for my obligatory pre-race photograph:
Before the race
My plan for this race was to hopefully finish in under 2hr30mins – I’d managed 13.1 miles before in 2hr28 minutes the first time I did it, but the second time it was more like 2hr34. Given I’d not been out for a while and my knees were playing up and my foot was sore, I wasn’t holding my breath I’d break that time. In fact I was fully expecting to have to walk in places.
Before long, it was time to head for the start. I headed for the back of the pack, knowing I wasn’t going to be on top form (no running over the previous two weeks) and given the type of race it was, I’d be unlikely to be overtaking many people if I started near the front and it is always demoralising to have people stream past you.
Waiting on the start line
As you can see, the race started (and finished) in the location of the Formula 1 start/finish line. It was very odd to be lining up on car markings like I’ve seen on TV.. they were a lot smaller than I imagined, and I’ve seen F1 cars for real as well – makes it all the more impressive what they do.
Rather worryingly, I spotted a bunch of dudes with guns also at the back.. one way to make sure you keep going I guess!
Dudes with guns
After a few minutes, during which time I updated my Twitter feed (take a look for the updates!), we were off. It took over 5 minutes for me to reach the start line, I was that far back. Not that this matters, as the race, like most of the races nowadays, was chip-timed via an RFID chip on my shoe, so the clock becomes irrelevant.
The first mile was slightly downhill with the wind behind me but I didn’t realise that at the time. It does explain why it was one of the fastest of the race though (10:21 minute/mile) and I was desperately trying to pace myself! As soon as I started running my knees started aching (they’d felt okay that morning for the first time in weeks) and my right foot was super sore. It really hurt to run. I was not encouraged, but after about half a mile the pain receded into discomfort. Discomfort I can do.
Here’s a map/route of the course. As you can see, we ran on the race track for the first and final 3 miles, and ran about in the middle for a time, and ran round the outside of the track after that. You can click on the map (and indeed any image here) for the full size version.
Course Route, as recorded by my Garmin
Before too long we were at mile 3, and 5K was down. It’s funny, but those first 3 miles went so quickly – ironic given that the 5Ks I’ve done seem to have lasted forever in my mind. Perhaps the featurelessness of the track helped a little with that – lots of long straights and very little detail.
Steve caught me on camera as I ran past near the start line:
Waving!
At this point we stopped running on the main track and we were onto service roads and similar – the track was very bumpy at times, and lots of dust blowing around. I took a photo as I passed the mile 4 marker.
Mile 4 Marker
The track temperature was also very warm, and although the wind was still there, it was warm too. Very glad I hadn’t wrapped up warmer, in fact I was close to overheating a few times.
I also kept getting caught up in a caterpillar. About 40 runners (that’s how many it seems!) were tied together in pairs, and in a chain as well. They seemed to be keeping a similar pace to me and kept getting in the way, very frustrating especially at one of the drinks stations. EDIT – please see my comments at the end if you’re thinking of complaining about this *observation* – I fully support the Caterpillar and what they’re doing and they seemed like a great bunch of people, but this race report is about me and my race and the things that affected it, not anyone else’s.
The Caterpillar
A few people made F1 sounds as we went round corners, and a marshall was listening to the race (in Bahrain!) live on the radio as I ran past but I tried not to listen too carefully as I was recording the race to watch later and didn’t want spoilers!
Mile 4 was actually the quickest, at a surprising 10:18 minute/mile. I was genuinely surprised at how fast I was going – but was certain I was going to run into trouble later. Whilst I can still do a 5K in under 30 minutes (just!) it would tire me out doing it at the start of a half marathon, which is over four 5Ks. I got a little concerned I was going too fast, so I made an effort to slow down for Mile 5 (10:38)
Normally I’d be bored like on my long training runs, but it was fun to run with so many other people and catch snippets of conversations, or read the stuff on the backs of their shirts (lots of people seem to run in memory of people) – so it made for a much better run than usual.
At Mile 6, Steve caught me running past again!
Me disappearing into the distance
Shortly after that, we saw the eventual winners run past near the end on the track nearby. Demotivating!!
It was around this time I started feeling quite dehydrated. I’d foolishly thrown away my bottle of water I’d got at mile 3, thinking there would be more water not long after. Alas at mile 5 (I think) all they had was Lucozade Sports drink, and whilst I drink that after a run sometimes, I don’t fancy it on a run, and besides I’d brought along gels. Mixing the two would be quite unpleasant and sugary. The next water station turned out to be almost at mile 8 by which point I was really suffering.
There were a few bridges to run over (very steep!) which killed my speed a bit. This was the hardest part of the race by far – we headed onto a route around the outside of the circuit on service roads and there was little wind but very hot temperatures. I can’t remember many details as it was pretty featureless, but my times slid down a little, closer to 11 minute miles. But with every mile that passed I remained stunned that I hadn’t dropped over an 11 minute mile pace – I was fully expecting to have run out of steam by that point as I often do on my training runs. Two weeks ago at mile 8 my speed dropped to 13 minute miles and never really recovered, so I was amazed to still be doing 10:51 at mile 9.
Mile 10 came round and I decided to try out the caffeine gel I had. I think I will not be trying caffeine gels again. Within 5 minutes of taking it, I was having terrible stomach cramps, and my speed dropped right down to 11:12 as a result – not the plan. I also sent my last update to Twitter, although I didn’t realise that at the time.
Miles 11 and 12 maybe I got some benefit from the caffeine as I started going a little faster, in fact Mile 12 was a 10:29 much to my surprise – I think I’d been a bit disappointed by the 11:12 of the mile before. Certainly I got a second wind from somewhere which is amazing because normally during my training runs once the speeds starts dropping it never recovers. Or maybe it was discovering that the 11 minute mile team were right behind me after I’d overtaken them around mile 3.
Mile 12 and I tried to update my Twitter but network congestion meant it kept on failing. I kept on trying for the rest of the race and never did manage to update at all, until we got home! Poor show, O2. It’s not like it was an F1 race day – it was a fraction of the attendance.
Knowing the end was in sight, I tried to give it my all, but the course had a trick up its sleeve. We were returning back the same way we’d run earlier – so instead of a downhill with the wind behind, it was an uphill with the wind right in our faces. Here’s the course elevation:
The course elevation
As you can see, the last mile was horrific. Ugh. So my time was 11:07 despite the fact I was putting in a serious amount of effort. I had to let the 11 minute mile pacers run past me as there was no way I could keep up with them up that hill.
Finally I reached the top. And Steve captured me running over the top too!
Coming over the top of the final hill
I was absolutely shattered, and my darned phone was not updating! My heart rate had shot right up (it was already about 5bpm higher after taking the caffeine gel – another reason to avoid it) and was close to maximum. Yet I was still super impressed that I was still able to run at this pace 13 miles into the race – this is very much a first for me – my previous record of running before collapsing (i.e. suddenly losing 2-3 minutes per mile in pace) is 10 miles.
I was clutching my phone in one hand and a bottle of water (having learned my lesson!) in the other as I passed Steve near the finish line.
Clutching my water and phone
I waved my phone at Steve out of exasperation – it was fortunate he knew how poor the signal was or he would have thought I’d fallen victim to one of the ambulances that were circling the course with blue lights on (worrying!!)
Waving my misbehaving phone at Steve
My pace had dropped right down, but it’s traditional to do a sprint finish. So I gritted my teeth, increased my pace to somewhere in the 9 minute miles (seriously!) and sprinted the final few hundred yards across the finish line. Ugh.
I staggered over to the chip removing dudes and asked the one I had if I was allowed to stop running now. Apparently I was. So I got my goody bag and staggered off to find Steve.
Just finished the race
Here’s my “finished about 10 minutes previously” pose, complete with medal.
So I got myself changed (there were lots of toilets free, a miracle!) then returned to the car – I fed C whilst a bunch of people with excessively large vehicles parked around us and ate champagne and scotch eggs and then I drove us all the 2.5 hours home. Ow.
So – what was my final time?
The official chip time is here of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 9 seconds. Garmin has me at 2hr22:13, but I think I started my timer a fraction early. Here’s my mile splits:
My mile splits
As you can see, I actually ran 13.28 miles – when corrected, my half marathon time is more like 2hr20 minutes – even better! The extra is probably due to all the weaving, just about everyone had a similar time on their Garmin – the course is measured via the shortest possible route and with big crowds you can’t always manage that.
Regardless, I smashed my hoped-for goal of 2 hours 30. I also finished in the top two thirds of women runners – not bad considering only serious runners were likely to enter and I haven’t been doing the training I ideally should. So I was very happy – not just over the time, but also over the fact I kept going for 13 miles and didn’t significantly drop my pace. I don’t know how much longer I’d have managed at that pace, but it was reassuring nonetheless. It means, so long as I don’t suffer any major training setbacks, I can aim for a 5-5.30 hour marathon time.
Here’s a chart showing my pace over the race: (click for bigger)
My pace graph
As you can see, it was mostly a steady pace except at the end with the big long hill, and the patch in the middle where I was dehyrated. A huge improvement on my usual fairly straight line before the pace just drops off suddenly!
What makes it all the more remarkable is that within a few hours of getting home, I came down with a horrible gastric flu/norovirus/winter vomiting bug/stomach flu/whatever and could barely move from bed. I’d felt weird after the race but put it down to the caffeine gels. I wonder if it was them that caused the stomach cramps or not.. I guess I will have to try them again on a long run. Anyway that explains the late update of this race report – I’m only now able to function a little again.
So – the medal!
Front of medal
Back of medal
All in all, an enjoyable race, in very interesting (albeit dull for non-F1 fans) surroundings, with good opportunities for personal bests. If I ever run again in the future, I’d definitely want to do this race again.
I was particularly pleased with how well I managed – I am wondering if perhaps my times were getting so dreadful with my other long runs because I was over-training. Certainly my knees caused me no bother and after the first half a mile my feet behaved themselves too. Taking those two weeks off, and eating lots of carbs in the days before, really seems to have helped. I am feeling a lot more confident now about the big event – less than six weeks away now!
