The new era of blogging is not supposed to turn into an appraisal of myself breaking records, but well, it’s easy and fun to write about, especially when records are broken. In the first challenge for 2016, I participated for the third time in the Sitges Half Marathon, and hit the nail on the head.
The flat course and my good shape resulted in smashing my previous record by nearly 3 minutes. The previous record was set in the same pretty coastal town exactly one year beforehand.
I’m still short of my < 1:30 goal. At the first few kilometers, I thought it was within reach. At the 8K mark my clock showed 33:42: I had a margin of 18 seconds to achieve the season goal. But I soon realized that I couldn’t keep up, especially after a minor uphill knocked off the momentum.
Nevertheless, I continued pushing ahead at a strong clip, gradually understanding that it’s going to be a good result in any case. Losing pace after a strong start is not uncommon. The fatigue felt in the legs can be exacerbated by seeing fellow runners pass you by, seeming fresh. There weren’t too many runners around me in the latter stages of the race. I passed some and some passed me, so I was lucky not being run down by a big herd, keeping my mental strength intact.
Here are fellow runners from the Barcelona Casual Runners group:
Maybe I could have shaved off a few more seconds, but running 4:15 instead of 4:19 per kilometer was unrealistic. I have three weeks until my next race, down in Seville, Andalucia. This time will not only enable me to write about other stuff, but also to do my hardest training sessions in my plan and reach the southern challenge at an even better shape.
At this season, it isn’t really warm in the south of Spain and the course is very flat. I may find excuses in an excessive wine and dine experience in the previous night, but that won’t count.
Here is the Sitges effort: