Great Cumbrian Run 16/10/05After running a marathon, you do get a certain feeling that any race shorter is a walk in the park. I remember the days not long ago, when a half marathon caused me sleepless nights of worry over whether I could get round. When Alan mentioned at running club that he was doing Carlisle Half marathon on 16th October and there was room in the car, I thought why not? I had nothing better to do. 2 weeks after a marathon on recovering legs, nothing better to do? I must be mad. Well, as it happened, I wasn't the only one. Rab and Karen also took the challenge.
I seem to be making a habit of sharing combined spaces with Karen and Rab. We set off at what seemed like the crack of dawn in Alan's car along with his friend James from Tuesday night Meadows training. I felt sorry for James trapped in a car with the 4 of us and our Porty banter. On the way down, nobody noticed the signs informing us of a diversion as the road closed at West Linton. Alan had an excuse as he was trying to avoid the birds which were running onto the road in front of him. The rest of us didn't. We had to double back on ourselves and follow the diversion through Biggar. This did set us back a bit and Karen and I were now worried about mentioning that we needed the loo. After a stop at the services, we still managed to get there with plenty of time to spare to register and change. There were some impressive looking elite runners wandering around. Karen and I agreed that the elite females made us both feel overweight. It didn't stop me ordering scampi and chips after the race though.
We lined up on the track and had the usual moan about people standing near the front who shouldn't be there. The first mile or so was a bit of a bottleneck and it seemed to take forever to get past these over ambitious slower runners. I settled into 7½ m/m pace with an aim to try and get under 1hr 40. I could see Rab and Alan in front of me, but as usual Karen was way ahead and out of sight. It was quite an undulating course and reminded me of Haddington in places. The heat must have been in the late teens, incredible for October, but thankfully not as hot as the day we ran the Aberfeldy half. The water stations were a bit of a disaster, there was no prior warning and too few people handing out bottles, which led to people queuing or grabbing in desperation (Karen). At least it was bottles and not plastic cups…..
About 3 miles in, I passed Rab who had paused to admire the view in a field behind a hedge. He soon caught up with me and encouraged me to try and stick with him to close the gap to Alan. I couldn’t keep up, but tried to keep them both in sight. I realised that it was an 'out and back' route when the first elite male runners came gliding towards me on the other side of the road about 5 miles in. Fortunately the turning point was a 'U' shape of country roads, a welcome change to the cone (or grumpy man (Aberfeldy)). By the time I reached 10 miles, my pace had slipped slightly as I was at 77 minutes. I knew that my legs were tired and increasing my pace to try and get back to 7½ m/m was out of the question. Head down, I tried to maintain a reasonable pace and was pleased to start passing folk in the final 2 miles. I saw a Porty vest in the distance in the final mile and realised it was Alan. Oh how I wish I could have found the strength to close the gap, but no, I had to admit defeat! (It is my secret ambition to beat Alan in a half marathon).
I crossed the line in 1hr 40.53 by my stopwatch. Only 5 seconds per mile faster and I would have achieved sub 1hr 40. Still, there is always next time. The others had all finished ahead of me. No PBs from the Porty team, however James managed 1hr 39 which was a PB for him. We tried to recruit him, but after a full day with us, I don't think he was too sure and said he would stick to his main sport, cycling. It was a great day out and thanks to Alan for driving us all there and back.
Report and photo Sally Scott
