Run > Race

Hackney Half Marathon.

Absolutely loved this race! I would say that it has probably been the best half marathon I've ever ran, not just in terms of my time (new PB :)) but just in terms of the course, and the support.

I was after a PB today and the preparation had gone OK. Saying that, as we were having a weekend away in London, a couple of gentle social drinks had been consumed the couple of nights before, and sleep was not plentiful. The trip up there also meant a very early start on the first tubes of the day, and still we only arrived at the site around 8.30 which meant we didn't have too much time to warm up properly. Still, the bag drop was well organised, and there were plenty of bushes around to pee in to enable avoidance of the toilet queues!

The race starts in Hackney marshes, which is basically a huge field. The gun went off and as you run through the start a crowd of screaming kids reaching for high fives gives you a good wee smile and energy boost to help get you up to pace.

There wasn't too much congestion in the first few miles which I was happy about as I had felt that I'd started a bit too far back in my pen. I reckon this was simply due to the width of the roads.

I managed to get up to my target pace of 7min/mile fairly quickly, and the race seemed to be going to plan until about mile 3 when I dropped my first gel! A minor readjustment of my fuelling strategy later, and I was back up to speed. I was pretty consistent in my splits, picking up the pace very slightly in the last few miles, and with enough energy left at the end for a sprint finish.

I think what I liked most about this race was that there was a lot of variety in the route. The direction changed quite frequently so it was easy to break the run up into manageable chunks (compared with somewhere like Brighton which is just along the seafront, back along the seafront, back along the seafront again). Also, there was a nice balance between running through sections with quite dense crowds on either side of you creating a wall of noise and then quieter sections where you could just look at the trees, the road, or some of the iconic landmarks (the olympic park springs immediately to mind). The weather was almost perfect too, with a warm sun, nice shaded sections, and a sometimes slightly too strong) breeze.

Also got a great goodie bag which contained a cracking medal, a technical t-shirt, and the usual stramash of munchies and drinks.

So yeah, my favourite half I've done to date. I would love to do it again, but it's a little bit of a hassle to get to for us, but it's definitely got a strong place in my mind!

Split Summary
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1) 1m - 7:11(7:11/m) 120cal 3.73/0/hr
2) 1m - 7:04(7:04/m) 121cal 3.79/0/hr
3) 1m - 7:02(7:02/m) 121cal 3.81/0/hr
4) 1m - 7:02(7:02/m) 120cal 3.81/0/hr
5) 1m - 7:02(7:02/m) 120cal 3.82/0/hr
6) 1m - 7:01(7:01/m) 120cal 3.82/0/hr
7) 1m - 6:56(6:56/m) 120cal 3.87/0/hr
8) 1m - 7:06(7:06/m) 122cal 3.78/0/hr
9) 1m - 7:04(7:04/m) 120cal 3.79/0/hr
10) 1m - 6:58(6:58/m) 120cal 3.85/0/hr
11) 1m - 7:01(7:01/m) 121cal 3.83/0/hr
12) 1m - 6:58(6:58/m) 120cal 3.85/0/hr
13) 1m - 6:52(6:52/m) 119cal 3.91/0/hr
14) 0.21m - 1:20(6:20/m) 24cal 4.23/0/hr