Four Minutes Off Target
Boy, do my knees ache this morning! Something tells me the body isn't designed to run such distances.
| Gun Pos | Name | Gun Time | Chip Pos | Chip Time |
| 1129 | Jake Howlett | 01:46:47 | 1066 | 01:44:25 |
| 1130 | Tim Howlett | 01:46:47 | 1064 | 01:44:25 |
Ignoring all the confusing gun versus chip nonsense, my brother, Tim, and I ran yesterday's Nottingham Robin Hood half marathon in 104 minutes. Don't believe me? Results are online here.
Remember the photo I included in a post earlier this month? That was Tim and I finishing the Mansfield Half Marathon in 1992 — the last time either of us ran in one. Again, yesterday we had an unspoken gentleman's agreement to stick together and cross the line together. As before, the "winner" would be decided by the organisers. Well, it's been fifteen years in the coming but this time they put me first and victory was finally mine. Muhahaha.
Some of you'll remember my aim was to finish in sub 100 minutes. In fact quite a few of you offered to double your sponsor money if I did, which was really nice and all the incentive I could ever need. Now, I don't want to make excuses, but, I felt I could easily have beaten this time if it weren't for everybody else being in the way.
With big events like yesterday (10,000+) they have markers to place you sensibly in the pack behind the start line. Tim and I found the sub 1hr 40 post and stood near it waiting for the off. Soon after that the man on the PA asked everybody to move forward. Not knowing why we decided to stick around the marker post and let lots of people move past. This, I think, was a mistake. It meant we started behind a lot of people with no intention of running it in 100 minutes. Also I think a lot of people position themselves as close to the start as possible, no matter what their target time is.
Our inexperience meant we spent at least the first half of the race run picking our way through the pack. It took us about four miles to get past all Scooby Doos and Spider Men! This becomes quite frustrating as you're unable to reach the pace you want/need to. It's a case of wait for a gap, speed up, wait for a gap, speed up, which means you never quite get in to a rythm.
Anyway, like I say, I'm not looking for an excuse. We still managed a respectable time and will learn from our mistake. Next year I think I'll start a lot further up the pack and hopefully smash the 100 minute mark. If not my 87 minute PB!
Anyway, despite the frustration of not doing as well as I'd hoped I still had a great time and look forward to the next one.
Thank you to all those who sponsored and helped raise £500 for George.
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Congratulations Jake. I'll be doing the Melbourne half-marathon in a few weeks and can't wait. Any tips for the few days before the race?
Hi Aidan. For the days immediately before the race I'd say just rest and eat lots of carbs.
In an earlier post on the topic I linked to my training calendar. That might help.
Good luck!
Tip for all distance events. If you think you're going too fast then you are! One way to avoid this is, (as Jake found out), start mid pack.
Nice one Jake well done!
Off topic but is the Patrik Ryan who posts here the same Patrik Ryan who I worked with at Prudential in London around 1999?
I think the Patrick Ryan who posts here is based in Manchester, but I could be wrong.
Congratulations Jake and the rest of the chaps that took part - hopefully Ill be able to join you next time!!
what? Two Howletts (one of them the famous Dr. Tim, no less) crossed the line in just over 100 minutes? I think thats twice the pledge for twice the performance. ;-)