Run > Race

Longleat Half Marathon. Freezing cold early start. The wind was icy cold and had to run in my hat and gloves. Lovely route, but was one of the hilliest runs I have done. Was pleased to get to the halfway point in around 59 mins considering how tough the hills were (adopted an early policy of running slowly up the hills and letting gravity to it's work on the way down). Was hoping to get a negative split in the 2nd half of the race but had my doubts as the 2nd half progressed. From around 6.5 - 9 miles was a relentlessly steep uphill climb (interspersed with the occasional short flat stretch) as the route took us out of Longleat and into the surrounding villages. Eventually it plateaued along a ridge through woodland and was fairly flat for a while, which gave my legs a bit of recoverey from the uphill burn. The route then left the road and ran into Woodland for a while andI picked up the pace at the 10 mile mark as I started to sense the finish. I hit the long, steep downhill stretch and let my legs go of their own accord, flying past all other runners that were nearby. The steep downhill stretch went for approx 1.5 miles and the runners I had been grouped with for some time were nowhere to be seen. Running past Longleat house we turned into the last hilly section and past the 12 mile marker, was a bit concerned that I'd gone to fast on the downhill and my legs would be to shagged for the last half mile of undulating paths. Although very tiring, my training had definitely paid off and once I turned into the home straight with approx half a mile to go and sped up again. There was nobody in close vicinity in front, I could see a young girl about 200m ahead who I thought I had no chance of catching. The home straight seemed to go on for ages without the end looking like it was getting any nearer, but i did notice that I was closing in on the girl who was in front. I started to wonder if I had given it too much on the home straight but once I hit the 13 miles mark I found yet another gear and went flying past the girl and, i think, 2 others to finish in 1;57;03 which was well under my sub 2hr target. Even more pleasing as the route was incredibly tough. Unfortunately I didn't see any animals en route but I did hear the wolves howling a couple of times while I was running, which is a first. Great route, although very hilly and the freezing, windy conditions didn't make for an easy run. I would certainly consider doing this one again!