Cambridge Half Marathon, 5 Mar 2023

Until November, I hadn't ran a half marathon in 3 years. It’s not a distance I'm experienced at pacing or have ever really tested myself at. I chose a target time of 1hr32, which I thought would be an ambitious 4min30 PB, but run training has been going well so I decided to go for a challenge.

The day didn't start particularly well with puncture en route! Not ideal pre-race in cold weather. Thankfully the race itself went a bit more smoothly. I started off holding a little faster than the pace I had planned, which felt nice and comfortable but with 21km to run I was cautious of pushing harder early in the race knowing I was already on for my target time. The kms were ticked off one by one without much fluctuation in pace at all. The crowd was a great buzz, as was running through the colleges. My pace still showed no sign of slowing and I tried to start pushing a little harder with 5km to go, which lasted a km before I settled back into the same pace I'd been running before. In the last km I was spurred on by a woman I could hear behind me who was loudly moaning in pain and shouting motivation to herself. I thought there's no chance I'm crossing the line after her, I'm much fresher than that!

I crossed the line in 1:31:25, perfectly paced with the 2nd half of the race only 30 seconds slower than the 1st. A PB by more than 5 minutes and it felt comfortable! Dave informs me that it was annoying how casual and comfortable I looked on the finishing straight! On reflection I definitely could have gone for a faster pace from the start, I just didn't know that I had it in me and part of me didn't want to push too hard with London marathon coming up. I've got my eyes on sub 90mins for the next one.

Arrived back at my bike post-race to find another flat tyre. I suppose you can't have all the luck.

Emily Young