Brentwood Half Race Report

With seven weeks to go before the Helsinki City Run, the Brentwood Half presented me with an opportunity for a competitive training run. Even the week before the run I still hadn't put together a plan, so I took on the idea of competitive training, race simulation if you will.
I could chase a PB, or I could try to run at Helsinki target pace for as long as possible and then try to keep it together with the fall out.
What I decided on was to relax, take on fuel when I needed to and aim to be under 2 hours. I wanted to try and maintain a pace without pressuring myself into making that pace a PB one.

The Run

A parkrun the day before. That was a bit of a failure. A combination of the parkrun, squash on Friday and a lack of hot water to provide a hot bath came back to bite me on Sunday morning. I got out of bed to notice a very painful glute. My left side is always dodgy, but this wasn't good at all. I tried to put this to the back of my mind and carried on with my usual preparations.
We made it to Brentwood with plenty of time to spare. Time for the obligatory multiple toilet stops and lots of stretching. The glute started to ease off a bit as I stretched and warmed up. Despite the plan being to take it easy, I was considering not even starting. From experience I've found my quads take more load on a long run, the glutes used for the faster runs. With this (probably misguided) thought in my mind I lined up for the start. They'd been some rain in the lead up to the start so I reluctantly handed my jacket to Paula, no need for sunglasses. 

And we're off.....

The field was a 3500 sell out, though the spacing between times was a bit basic. Three categories, elite, sub 1:45 and over 2:00. I was well behind the 2:00 sign, this would at least afford me a slow start to ease the glute in.
We were taken to the start line by an excellent marching band and soon on our way. I started slowly, letting the early enthusiasm and support take over. The first three or four kilometres were downhill and after one click I caught up with a friendly twitter friend, Karen aka @anyaruns. Karen is a fellow Mind runner and often appears to be the first person on my timeline to lace up, often at 5am. It was good to finally meet and we chatted for a couple of kilometres. The chat also took my thoughts away from the glute and after fifteen minutes I bade my farewell and started to increase the pace.
After negotiating the A12 the course took us in a long loop round the villages towards the north of Brentwood.
I was soon into a much steadier pace, around the 5:30 mark, comfortable in the surroundings. Country lanes with minimal traffic (most cars heeded warnings and stayed away) between villages. Every time we arrived in a village the support was superb, this might have been Brentwood's race, but every community we passed through embraced it, I've never seen so many bowls of jelly babies on offer!
My pace from 3 - 10km was good, though I had a fade just after the hour mark. I didn't feel slower, just appeared to not be making as good progress. Luckily I was able to shake this after 14km and got back to a 5:30/km pace as we made our return to Brentwood. I got chatting to Dennis, a runner that splits his time between East London runners & Springfield. We spoke for a good few kilometres in the first hour & sadly I've been unable to find him in the classified results. Dennis, if you're out there, I'll see you at Beckton parkrun soon no doubt, get in contact on Daily Mile.
I could feel we were getting closer, every turn we made was now back towards Brentwood and at the ten mile mark I reminded myself that only a parkrun distance remained. At this point you start running the equations through your head, how slowly can you run and still get a target time. How little effort is required, how quickly can I get these damn trainers off!

Turning for the finish line

My outlook continued to be positive as we joined the main road leading into town. Playing with the traffic was a bit haphazard at times, but the majority of drivers were well behaved and courteous. The final mile felt uphill all the way, suddenly I was aware I should have banked the easy downhill miles at a faster pace earlier on. The support was unrelenting though and that helped drive me home. One hesitant driver nearly killed my momentum, but after literally brushing them past I was into the final climb.
Just as we approached the crest of the hill in Brentwood town centre we turned left, into a side road for the final 400m. The road was like a funnel of support, great noise and encouragement. A final left turn and a great realisation that the last 200m were downhill. Time to kick into whatever gears I had left and sprint down the hill. I spotted the photographers and attempted the Daniel Bryan YES as I made it towards the line. A fun way to finish a race.

Giving the YES to finish the race

The Eat

Sadly there was no Mars bar in the race bag (a win for St Lukes there), but thankfully on the way back to the car we stumbled upon an ice cream cafe. I opted for an ice cream milkshake rather than a chocolate bar shake. Three scoops of Rum & Raisin, some milk & a blend later & I was having an excellent recovery shake!

The Conclusion

Within an hour of finishing I'd received my official time by text, 1:58:53. Sub two hours on what was essentially a training run. Part of me wandered if I should have taken on my PB. Only the early kilometres and the fade between 11 & 14 prevented it.
I couldn't be happier though. A year previously I'd hit rock bottom with a 2:06 in Milton Keynes and resolved to start from scratch. I've never been more relaxed about a race, having no expectations made the race more enjoyable (or at least as enjoyable as running 21 kilometres can be).

Brentwood Half was also the most sociable event I've taken part in. Maybe it was the lack of headphones, the excellent marshalling or the support through every hamlet, village or town. I'd recommend this event to anyone looking for a half marathon in the area. Not overly hilly, but enough undulation to keep you tested throughout. My only gripe was the starting pens needing more spacing, more splits between times to allow everyone to line up where they should be.