Crossing the Bridge

08 May, 2010
half-marathon, personal record, race, running

New Personal Record!

1:47:51 see here ( official time )

At the race there are paceholders for every 15 minues, so I planned to start with the ballon which said 1:45 as that was my goal. But since we (my brorther-in-law Michael) arrived 20 min before the start, I had some trouble getting near .. the only place I could get room was outside og the fence besides 1:30. And there I stood with about 20 other runners hoping to get in fast when the race started.

In addition to this my watch was making me nervous as it couldn't find the satelittes with all the buildings nearby .. luckly it was ready with 2 minutes to the start.

The Race

When the race started I got into the stream of people and started jogging .. when I had crossed the starting line and found my running rythm I was right next to the 1:45 ballon from the paceholders .. so far so go :)

The first 5 - 10km I was flying* .. but holding the pace at 5:00 was easy as the crowd had that speed. At 14km I started feel the burden of my glucose reservoirs beginning to be empty and my tempo fell to 5:10-5:30 ( I know .. not enough long running session while training ).

Hitting the 20km mark I decided to use my last power to hold to the pace I should and then "look" for the right moment to burn all my final resources .. that moment came when I could see the finish line. I ran the last 250m with all I had left (avg 4:31, best 3:48).

Am I Satisfied?

So .. am I happy with my result? It's almost 3 minuttes from my goal. No because I did NOT reach my goal, but Yes considering my preprations and it was a personal record after all ;)

As a side note my brother-in-law was to finish in 1:50-1:55 .. so I waited at the end of the finish area for him. It was a windy and rather cold day .. but he been there 10-15 minutes .. after 25 minutes of "he'll be here in a minute" .. I was wet and freezing from the cold wind. I finally gave in af went to get my dry clothes on. He had had an injury at 4km but had run/walked the rest of the way, completing in 2:24 .. tough but stupid ;) .. and not I didn't catch any cold.

* At the short stop at 6km I was taking a leak ;)