Race Report

Training had again been slightly disjointed recently with a trip to the USA with work thrown in. I brought the gear and did a 10k at 5am on the treadmill while there, but I hate the treadmill. I tend to sweat buckets, and not getting anywhere is a tad frustrating. The effort always seems far harder on the treadmill too.
Mileage for last week was only 30, but I did get a quality session of 8 miles at race pace for the half marathon, with 11 miles for the session.
The weather forecast was pretty much ideal today, and it didn't disappoint. It was a bit breezy, but compared to the last few day, and what it was at Bohermeen last year, it was quite acceptable.
The whole family came with me today, as Navan is only 30 minutes from the house.
Over 1000 participants ran today, and it was busy. I did only a relatively small warm up of 10 minutes easy enough, and got a place pretty close to the start with some fellow club mates whom I hadn't really seen in quite some time due to the solitary nature of my training of late.
At the off, as anticipated, the pace was too fast. I had set the garmin at. 6:29 pace for a target 1:25, and the first mile was 6:05, and even then I was making a conscious effort to hold back. Mile two was a bit more honest at 6:23. People seemed to find their place, and one thing I noted after the finish was how little passing was done. Only one or two passed me for the entire race and the same for me. That was a good indication that the people around me at least, paced it well.
At 4 miles a runner came along side and asked what my target was. His PB had been 1:29, so he said he would tag along with me. From there, all the miles were pretty accurate at about 6:25 pace, and the going felt good. I was running well within myself, holding back at times when the wind was on my back to conserve energy. In my mind the test would come from 10 miles, as that had been the longest tempo I had done. 10 came, and I still felt good, the temptation was to push the pace, but the last 3 were crucial, with the last almost two up a pretty long drag right into the wind.
As we turned into the wind, my fellow runner who had been with me all along decided to push on and I let him go. In my mind, with the hardest 1.5 miles left, I didn't want to screw it up now. I felt the effort really increase as I pushed into the wind, but I overtook 2 runners who had been ahead of me all race. The pace dropped to 6:35, but i had enough time banked I felt, to tolerate it. As I came around the final turn I could see the clock at 1:24 something ( no glasses on) and I quickly realised it might not make it. I pushed it out for a sprint finish, but ended up with 1:25:03 at the end.
I was pretty happy with this, the important thing for me on this race was to see where I was, and to pace it right. I probably should have programmed the garmin at 6:25 as it read 13.22 distance and I should have allowed for that.
Overall a good race, our club came fourth, and my club mates had some fantastic times. It gives me a good barometer for London. The year I ran 3:09, my half marathon time was 1:26 and a bit, so I am least there I hope.
The mileage will increase substantially from this week with only 7 weeks to go.