After a longer gap between races due to a Saturday race last week and a Monday race this week, I had plenty of time to recover for the Ackworth Half Marathon. The downside was I also had 8 days in between travelling from place to place on holiday in our motorhome and ate a lot of bad food along the way. I also tend to run a lot when away so I can explore and see what each place has to offer. I’ll be honest, I got a bit carried away and ran 10 days on the spin without a rest, so it was a bit much. As the Ackworth Half approached, I felt sluggish, filled with food and somewhat jaded from a lot of driving and lack of sleep……not the best race prep ever, but it made for an epic road trip round the north of England and south of Scotland.
Race day was nearly upon me and as I’d made previous arrangements with the Race Director, we had a place to stay in our motorhome in the field where the race started and finished. We drove there on the Sunday evening just in time for some dinner whilst enjoying a great sunset, parked up literally 50 yards from race HQ. It was great to meet the Race Director doing his final checks of the course before race day and have a chat to get some insight into the course, as well as thank him for the place in the race..
A good night’s sleep (finally!) and I was up and getting ready to race. A 50 yard walk to register and use the portaloos before going back to the motorhome to kit up. The field started to fill with cars and runners as it got closer to the start time of 9.30am. I said goodbye to my family and went on my warm up around 9am. It was already hot, hot, hot! The heat was going to be a real challenge and after hearing about last year’s event in snow and rain, it was a big difference for everyone involved..
The start of the race approached and the runners were sent down to the start line at the bottom of the field. I was already there after warming up, watching the 300 (approx) runners stomping down towards me. We moved forward to the start line and listened to the pre race brief before a quick 3,2,1…GO. Most runners hadn’t even got their garmins/watches ready! As I fumbled to start my garmin, only a couple of rows back, it was clear I was amongst the ‘huskies’ who bolted away down the start straight towards the road. As we turned left onto the road and a slight decline, runners continued to flood past me which was incredible considering I noticed my pace on my watch was at 6.30 min/mile. It’s hard to restrain yourself when caught up at the front at a fast pace, but I tried slowing down slightly as it was hot, I wasn’t in prime condition and I knew there were hills to come.The first two miles felt like they were gradually downhill and comfortable, even at a 6.44 and 6.57 min/mile. I was playing cat and mouse with an older guy in an orange vest who went past me on the declines, but couldn’t keep the pace on the inclines. I get that a lot at races and use the hills to my advantage to overtake. The first real incline came around mile 3 but it wasn’t anything too bad at that stage, just enough to slow most people down as I moved forward with another 6:57 mile. It led us to a nice decline where a group I’d been catching, moved away from me again. The older guy in orange dropped back on the previous hill and that was the last I saw of him. As I tried keeping my speed up down the hill, gaps were appearing and there was a 20-30 yard gap in front of me and a much bigger gap behind me. Another sub 7 min/mile with a 6:55 as the decline levelled off. I knew I was going way too quick and I’d suffer later, so I tried not to get too carried away downhill and bound down it.
As we entered a small village and turned left shortly after I took the above photo, the marshals had a laugh with me by shouting ‘reply to those emails!’ obviously seeing me with my phone in hand after the photo. It was the last time I’d laugh for a while as we crossed a bridge and started to climb. As mile 5 started, so did a juicy hill. I could see it getting steeper but as the road veered to the right, there was no sign of the top. Runners in front were starting to slow down, so I did my usual hill antics, put my head down, pumped my arms and worked my way past a handful of them. Half way up and I was starting to breathe heavy, it was going on longer than expected. I could finally see the top as I closed in on a dark haired lady in a sky blue top. I overtook her and a guy just before it levelled off and we all sucked in the oxygen to recover. That was a bit of a nasty hill and for the first time my mile split dropped above a 7 min/mile at mile 5 for 7:15. As it flattened out, we took a left turn off the main road onto a smaller country lane between fields. It started with a slight incline for 20-30 yards or so, before turning right into a longer decline. The lady I’d overtaken came back alongside me and moved a few yards in front as we caught and passed another guy. I was a few steps behind her as a man in a black and grey vest powered past us both. I think I passed him on the hill but he pulled it back on the downslope. The next 2.5 miles followed this pattern, all heading gradually downhill with the odd mini incline every so often. With each incline I overtook the lady and with every decline she went back past me again. At mile 7, still on a slight decline, we approached a junction that had quite a few supporters clapping and cheering. I was feeling pretty good at this point and had my breath back froom the steady decline, so took my chance of a couple of photos. You can see the lady in front at the mile 7 marker with a guy in white just in front of her….
And as we ran past the marker, I turned the camera over my shoulder to snap what was going on behind. As you can see, another guy in a white vest wasn’t far behind and shortly after the photo, he caught me on a downslope just as I was passing the guy in white who was previously in front.
As he pulled up alongside, he said…
“So Mike” having obviously read the back of my vest
“52 of what? What is your challenge?”
I explained the challenge and had a brief chat about previous races and how this was my 17th of the year. After mentioning the Burnsall Trail Half, he told me this was his first road half marathon for 14 years as he usually sticks to trails. I was talking about the difficulty of the Burnsall and Cleevewold races and how my times had gone from being around 1:32-1:35 up to just under 2 hours.
He said…”1:35, that’s my target for today!” followed by a “good luck for the rest of your challenge”
I laughed and replied that I had a long way to go yet, and as I looked at my watch I noticed my pace had dropped to a 7:25 min/mile whilst talking. The conversation ended and as we started another incline, I kicked on, picked my speed back up and pulled away from him again, at the same time another short haired lady with a cap went past me at a bit of speed. My increased pace kept me close to her as we approached the lady in blue in front. Around mile 8.5 the inclines started again. First climb gave me an opportunity to close the gap on both women in front and I could still see the guy in black around 50 yards ahead, who had overtaken me after the big hill. In front of him was another man in red. As the hill got a little steeper, I closed the gap between all of them before the decline helped them edge away again. My splits between mile 5 and 9 hovered around a 6:57 min/mile, which was leaving me with a low 1:31 finish time according to my watch.
We dropped back down to the village we’d previously ran through just before the big hill at mile 5, and I realised we’d done a loop and were joining the same route back towards the start. It also clicked that the pretty long, reasonably big decline around mile 4, was about to turn into a not so fun incline up to mile 10. As suspected, we were ushered right by the marshals and there was the incline in front. The positive was, both women struggled as I closed the gap and went past. Next I could see both the guy in black and the one in red in front. The one in black had now caught the one in red and I was catching both. Just 10 yards behind and the hill was taking its toll on my legs and lungs. The guy in black kept the gap as I passed the guy in red, who seemed to be struggling. I’d worked hard up the hill and was rewarded with a nice decline around mile 9.5 as we turned to the right again. The decline enabled me to catch my breath and do enough to stay just under a 7 min/mile, but it also gave the guy in black enough energy to pull away again.
It was turning into a battle now, the heat was getting to me, I was feeling drained and the last 3 miles were going to be a struggle to maintain the pace. Not only was it getting hotter with every minute, the last 2 miles were pretty much all uphill if I remembered the course correctly, from going downhill in the first 2 miles. At mile 10 we started to climb again, my pace was getting slower now but I was adamant I wanted to stay close to the guy in black in front. He was now chasing down another man in a dark blue top who he caught on this incline, with me following shortly after and passing him too. Every incline felt like a hill now, so the declines were like heaven. Unfortunately, there was only one more slight decline just before mile 11 which helped stop my legs from fading altogether. Mile 11 beeped with only the second split into the 7 min/miles. It felt much slower than a 7:04, so I knew the next two were going to take everything I had just to get through and maintain my pace.Turning left just after mile 11, we ran down a road with a few houses. As we started a gradual climb again, a guy was stood in the middle of the road ahead of me, with a hose. What a legend, he was spraying the runners with cold water to cool them down. The runner in front veered towards him for a quick spray and only 20 yards behind, I did the same with a puffed out ‘thank you’. At that point I realised the route seemed different. We had gone past the turning we’d come from in the early miles and taken a different direction. I now had no idea what was to come, but I knew it would be uphill. Working really hard now but the gap to the guy in front just wasn’t closing. I’d got it to within 10 yards and everytime he heard me puffing and panting behind, he managed to creep away a few more yards again. Half way through the mile, we turned down a small lane to the right and a marshal was handing out wet flannels. We both took one to soak our heads. It was a nice feeling and helped lift me up again when my pace was dropping. Mile 12 beeped with a 7:07 and the incline got steeper. This was just mean having the last mile uphill. I was hoping for some downhill but it never came and I just kept pushing what I had left to stay close to the man in front. As we saw a sign of 400m to go, we were so close to the end and I tried to push a quicker pace. I failed and could only maintain as the guy in front pulled away and kicked for home. Mile 13 was my slowest of the race, not surprisingly. One last turn to the left with the cheers and clapping from all the supporters and what a welcome sight the finish line was. I pushed as hard as I could just to get under 1:32, as I could see the clock in front ticking by. I waved to my family just 30 yards from the line and finished the job……Body
That was tough, very tough!I stumbled through to get the timing tag removed from my trainer and claim my rewards before getting under a gazebo to get out of the sun. I was a little wobbly and dehydrated, so after a few minutes to compose myself, drink some water and take the usual finish selfie, we wandered back to the motorhome to shower and recover before the 140 mile trip back home.
So how did I get on?
Here’s some stats from the race….
So what did I think about the event as a whole?
I can only comment on my experience, so others may have a very different view.
Organisation/Facilities: 4/5 – Before this race I had been in contact with the Race Director sorting out where I could park my motorhome on race day. He went above and beyond getting permission for me to actually stay on site the night before. Also, with very thorough directions, it was a big help and deserves brownie points just for that. With regards to pre race information, I don’t recall receiving any information for the race via email but it was available on their website. The information wasn’t particularly thorough and directions to the race were limited. There was a course map available to download on the website if you wanted. After my concerns about parking on race day, I didn’t need to worry as there was actually plenty in the main field, which meant there was no problem having to leave a bag in the baggage drop.
Registration was easy, but then again I was the first person there, having slept 50 yards away. There were approximately 10 portaloos for a field of 278 runners, so queues did build up shortly before the race as always. Out on the course there were plenty of marshals at main junctions so there was no way of going the wrong way. There were also mile markers and ‘keep left’ signs on certain roads as it wasn’t a fully closed road race. The roads were quiet though and all traffic moved cautiously when meeting runners. Parts of the course that were on main roads were traffic controlled with stop/go signs and other roads were closed to traffic on a rolling time basis until runners passed. I felt safe and had no problems with traffic at all. There were regular drink stations roughly 2.5-3 miles apart which I didn’t use until the last one, just to splash water on my head, but on a hot day they were no doubt a big help for a lot of runners. The added wet flannels in the last couple of miles was also a nice touch on such a sunny morning. It was a pretty well organised event, even if there was a slight lack of information beforehand.
Route: 3.5/5 – So far, this is probably the most challenging road half marathon I’ve done this year. It wasn’t mega hilly but it had enough to sap the legs. Whether or not that was the hills or the heat, I imagine it was probably both. I did enjoy the route, it had a bit of variety, although all on country roads, there were some long sections of nothing but fields either side and small sections of pretty villages. The ups and downs broke up the monotony of long, straight, flat drags, but be prepared for a tough uphill finish. As it was through the countryside, there wasn’t a massive amount of support, just a few main junctions that seemed to attract locals who gave a clap and cheer. Also, with a reasonably small field of 278 runners, gaps appear quickly and depending on your speed, it can get a little lonely at times if you find yourself in a big gap. This didn’t bother me as I’ve always been a lone runner, but for some it could be tough mentally.
Medal, t-shirt & goody bag: 1/5 – Hmmmm, what can I say about this. I’ve given it a 1 because they gave a chocolate at the end, which I’d normally polish off instantly to regain some energy and sugar, but on a hot day, melted chocolate didn’t really fill me with delight. It went down well a little later though! Other than that, unless you paid extra and pre ordered a t-shirt, there were no t-shirts or medals given out for finishing. I was pretty stunned that after running a tough race, all I was given was a bottle of water, a chocolate bar, a box of ‘Jointace’ gel and an envelope with a letter, gifting a month’s free membership for 4 people to a local gym. Now, considering I was 140 miles away from home, it certainly isn’t any benefit to me and I’d imagine most other runners wouldn’t get the benefit either, as most travel a little way to a race like that and it’s probably still too far to be enticed by free gym membership. I’m no medal chaser, but even the keyring and tea towel of previous races beats what was given here.
Price: 2/5 – Well, with no medal, t-shirt or any reward worth shouting about, I’m not sure a nice route is worth paying £18-20 for. It’s not the most expensive race but considering it starts/finishes in a field with a few marquees and portaloos, there’s no main facilities to use or anything to show for the price. I suppose the free parking on site is a bonus but in my opinion I’m not sure I’d pay £20 (unaffiliated) just to run 13.1 miles for a chocolate and joint cream.
Overall, in my personal opinion…..I thought it was reasonably well run and a pretty nice route, which was undulating enough to make it a challenge, without being so hilly that I didn’t enjoy the surroundings. It was a shame I came away with not much to show for it other than a vest mark from the sun. I doubt I’d go out of my way to enter it again if it was local, unless I was on a budget. I think a 2.5/5 is a fair score for this one.
Next on my list is the Shakespeare Half Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is one of the more local races to me. I’ve ran it before and it currently holds my PB of 1:23:40, but I won’t be getting near that or even attempting it this time round. It has a nasty hill at around 8 miles but generally has a pretty nice route and nothing too challenging, so bring on half #18 of my challenge.
Remember, if my challenge or the effort I’m putting in has inspired you and you’d like to donate, I’m very grateful for anything you can spare. You can donate through my justgiving page here.
Run 'til you Drop! 