Race Report: The Berkhamsted Half Marathon

So this was it, the moment of truth. With the Watford Half-Marathon abandoned due to snow, all of my pre-marathon hopes rested on this. Had I completely wasted the last eight weeks training like a dog for no improvement in my performance? Or could I summon any energy out of my tired legs for a big psychological boost prior to the marathon?

As I mentioned in my last post, my ‘form’ at Berkhamsted CC has been shockingly poor. So when I saw the weather forecast – namely, about an entire month’s rainfall in one day – the omens weren’t looking good.

I had a feeling it was going to be bad by the fact that visibility on the M1 on the way over was about 30 metres. And by the time I’d walked from my car to the start I was soaked through to the bone. Deciding that every second in the dry was a bonus, I made my way into the cricket pavilion which, unsurprisingly, resembled a tube train at 5.30. Beggars can’t be choosers, and I found just about the only spare space – stood under one of the taps in the men’s showers – and proceeded to get changed.

Whilst I was changing I recognised a friendly voice which turned out to be Garry, a guy I used to play football with years back. When I first moved to London (back in 98) Garry was my fellow centre-half in a cup game over at Hertford, one of my first ever games for the club. It was a real back’s to the wall performance as we were trying to keep a team a couple of league’s higher than us at bay. But my abiding memory of that game (I can’t remember the result, but I think we might have sneaked it 1-0) was whilst trying to concentrate at a set piece, Garry turned to me and said that he’d just realised he was wearing his wife’s underwear. Anyway, I digress…

I made my way to the start line at 9.55 and it was raining so heavily that I resembled a drowned rat by the time the gun went. The first couple of miles were gentle (flat/downhill) but I was mindful that miles 3 and 6– 10 were all uphill.  By the time I got to the bottom of the first hill, I had 20 seconds in the bag. Which was pretty useful when I saw how steep it was. I made it to the top (just about) as I was fresh, but was thinking that if the others were anywhere near as bad as that, I’d have no chance of a PB.

In my head I’d decided miles 4 – 6 were all about regaining composure and getting my heart rate back down before attacking (OK, hanging in there) through miles 7 -10. I sort of did this, but mindful of having lost a good 50 seconds from the first climb, the not-so-logical side of my brain told me to keep pushing. And as it was a monsoon – my shorts by mile 5 resembled that moment when you get out of a swimming pool - I decided to go with it.

All good and well, but when I reached the bottom of the next serious climb, I was reasonably spent. I dug in, and told myself that although there were 6 to go, it was effectively only 3 because the last 3 were flat/downhill. However, it wasn’t long before I hit the stage where my head was saying ‘this is really hard work, you’re going to catch pneumonia, your shoes have picked up so much water they feel like two bricks and your socks are squelching with every step’. I was also getting increasingly fed up of dodging massive puddles on the semi-flooded roads.

I struggled on through and got just past 9 when we turned through a wooded section that started to go downhill. In my sodden state I thought I must have lost the plot and that the course actually started to go downhill at 9 instead of 10 so I pushed on. Big mistake. It did go downhill, but only for 500 yards or so, before a nice incline again, coupled with a water station that meant trying to drink whilst barely being able to breathe. I got through that, and looked at my watch to see that my virtual partner was telling me I was 40 seconds behind my time goal. Time to crack on.

Mile 10 was great and all was going well until I got to the 11 mile marker. I was absolutely cream crackered and I could see the road starting to go up again. This can’t be right? Unfortunately it could, it’s just that because of all the other hills that one doesn’t really register on the elevation profile they send you. That was the toughest slog, and my mile time dipped quite badly. But I made it through, and then steamed down the hill to the end.

When I went through mile 12 I didn’t think I was on for a PB, but my last mile was a cracking 6.32 (the benefits of going downhill) and I went through the finish in 1:35:23, a PB by 3 minutes and 34 seconds. What I’d forgotten was that I’d set the pacing device on my watch for a 2 minute PB anyway! I’d like to say that I am really happy with that, but by the time I got back to the car I was so cold and wet that I couldn’t get warm for three hours.

I’m sure in the coming days it’ll sink in, especially as doing a PB on a course that my Garmin revealed had 699ft of climbs is a pretty damn good effort, but it certainly didn’t feel like it at the time. It was nice to finally come away from Berkhamsted Cricket Club with a PB rather than the usual spanking and, having spent all of Saturday concerned that my knee was having a relapse, I was so damp at the start I couldn’t feel it so forgot all about it.  

Finally, I also did something that goes against everything I stand for. I asked a complete stranger at the finish to take a photo of me for this blog so you could see what a state I was in. But because you can’t see how wet I am, I actually don’t think it does justice to how bloody miserable a day it was.

Should've worn a wetsuit...

Anyway, onwards and upwards as I now have seven weeks left to go until the big day. That’s four really big, heavy mileage weeks followed by the gentle wind-down to the marathon itself. First things first, if I can make it through March in one piece I’ll be happy…  

And I’m telling you this because…
I’m running the 2012 London Marathon for the Hertfordshire Community Foundation (HCF).

If you feel inclined to sponsor me to help the Hertfordshire Community Foundation continue their great work, you can do so here:  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/BenWood2