Norwich Half Marathon 2012

It was cold and dry but the wind was blowing a gale. During the warm-up (2.4kms) it was obvious that times were out of the window - it was going to be bloody tough run.

The gun sounded and I settled into the lead group. We ran a small loop around the showground before hitting the main road running directly into the wind. Four runners broke away leaving 4 of us chasing. The mile splits were pretty ugly and the lead group were about 10 seconds up the road by the time we finally got some respite from the wind after 3 miles or so.

With the wind on the back it felt a lot easier. Strangely we started to reduce the gap on the lead group. By the time we were climbing back into the showground at the conclusion of the first lap we had caught them and there was now a group of 6 of us taking turns leading out the race. I wasn't feeling comfortable and I had the feeling that others in the group had plenty in reserve.

As we ran through the showground the group remained together but as soon as we hit the road for the start of the second lap four runners again went off the front leaving me and another City of Norwich runner in pursuit. This section was now very tough. The wind was blowing so hard that at times it felt like you weren't even moving - made all the tougher now as I had nobody to share the workload as I was running clear in 5th place.

I recall one point where the wind was coming across me and even though I was trying to run down the centre of the road, I kept getting blown into the ditch. A split of 6:37 for that mile shows just how tough it was. The second half of the lap was a lot easier but I was by now going through the motions. I tried to keep it going the last 3 miles but with nobody around me I had let the pace slide. Back into the showground for the last time and one final short grind in the win and I jog/walked the last 100m down the finish completing the race in 1:16:04 for 5th place (first O40).

Obviously not happy with the time but quick times were not going to happen today. I can't recall ever running a race where conditions were so difficult. I still enjoyed it though and it was nice mixing it with the leaders for a few miles even if that was short-lived.

All up 23.5kms for the day. Here's a photo at the start of the first lap: