Double world marathon champion Abel Kirui celebrating victory with a dance.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Archives // half marathon
Great Birmingham Run
I ran a marathon a few weeks ago and had entered this as a back-up race. I knew that with it taking place three weeks after the Brussels Marathon I would not have enough time to get into decent half marathon shape so I offered to run at 75 minute pace to help a few people from my club who were aiming to get the London Marathon championship qualifying time.
The elite athletes (including Haile Gebrselassie) were introduced to the TV audience just before the gun went at 10:02. I can only assume that this obscure start time was due to advertising breaks on Channel 5, the broadcaster that now has the rights to some of the Great Run events. I reported on this blog last week that Eliud Kipchoge would be running after receiving a letter from the race organisers to local residents stating that he would. What probably happened is that he pulled out, opening the door to Gebrselassie, who was a late entry.
We set off from just behind Broad Street and into the first mile which is almost all downhill. I was trying really hard to hold back and set a decent pace; I had also been asked to make sure that a 17 year old from our club didn’t set off too fast either. We passed the mile marker in around 5:38, not bad given how much descent there had been. On Thursday evening I had been down to the track and run 4 miles at 5:40 pace to remind myself what it felt like, and I was hitting the splits fairly accurately. Looking over my shoulder just before the 3 mile mark, I realised that I had a huge crowd of about 15 people just tucking in behind me and following my pace! No doubt this was due to the fact that I had written “sub 75 pacer” on my back. It’s amazing how many people are suddenly interested in running with you when you do that!
At around the 10k mark I was out on my own despite having run an even pace the whole way, so I slowed down by jogging on the spot to allow a couple of club mates to catch up. I then picked the pace up again, knowing that we had to leave a bit of time in the bank for the hill between 10 and 11.5 miles.
We got to 10 miles in a few seconds under 57 minutes, which I knew was about the slowest possible 10 mile split that would allow a sub 75. I pressed on and although I worked harder in the next mile than in any other, still recorded the slowest yet as most of the mile was uphill. The guys behind were still in sight but clearly at their limit. I kept shouting encouragement and urging them to close the gap to me. Stephanie was at the 11 mile mark just down the road from where we live, offering her support. She had taken a great photo of Gebrselassie at the same point a few minutes earlier.
The course flattens out in the 12th mile, but still has lots of turns in it so isn’t the quickest part of the course. I went through 12 miles in just over 68 minutes, which was just about spot on. It was great to see so many friends on the course. In the last 2 miles alone I saw about 5 people I knew, one of the perks of running a race in the city you live in.
The support from the crowds on Broad Street was immense, a wall of noise all the way from the tunnel exit by Five Ways to the finish line in front of the Hyatt. I stopped my watch at 74:52 (not bad pacing for a first attempt, I thought!) and immediately looked behind me to see Chris, one of my club mates, cross the line agonisingly short of the 75 minute barrier. Still, he ran a PB by nearly 2 minutes, a great achievement. Our club is on the up.
My friend Mark didn’t have such a good day and fell off the pace around the half way point, finishing in 78 minutes. He will break 75 within the next year.
The plan now is to race a half marathon myself in December and try and break my personal best, set earlier this year. Two months of hard training should do the trick; I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it again.
Kipchoge to run Birmingham Half
The news broke earlier this week that Haile Gebrselassie will be competing in the Great Birmingham Run next Sunday (formerly the Birmingham Half Marathon) after dropping out of the Berlin Marathon a few weeks ago. This is obviously exciting news for the city of Birmingham, a city with a great sporting tradition which will be honoured to host the Ethiopian legend. However, the most exciting news in my opinion is the presence of Eliud Kipchoge on the start line. As a local resident, I received a letter today outling road closures and information about the event, but I was most shocked to see Kipchoge’s name as one of the stars of the event.
For the uniniatiated, Kipchoge is a 5k specialist who won the world championships as an 18 year old 8 years ago, beating Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj in stunning fashion. He has rarely raced above that distance and it will be intruiging to see how he fares over 13.1 miles. It would also be interesting to work out his intentions; is he turning his back on the 5000m, knowing that the likes of Koech, Longosiwa and the like may have the beating of him in the race to compete in Kenyan colours at next year’s Olympics? Surely it can’t signal a move to the marathon though; AK has allegedly already decided on 2 of its 3 representatives in an event that exemplifies the Kenyan strangehold on world distance running.
This is most likely just a decent payday for him. And why not. Overdistance racing is a great thing to try at the end of a season, and it will offer him a good insight into what his potential is over longer distances on the roads. He has already tested the water with a sub-27 10,000m clocking in Brussels a few weeks ago.
If he and Haile both make it to the start line this will be a great race.
Weekend Round-Up
This past weekend was a big one for fans of athletics.
Domestically, the clubs turned out for the regional 12 stage relays, the qualifying events for the national at Sutton Park on April 9th, whilst some of the top British men and women tested their London Marathon fitness at the Reading Half, where 6 broke 65 minutes and 29 broke 70.
The big story of the weekend came from the Big Apple, where Galen Rupp and Mo Farah were making their highly anticipated debuts over 13.1 miles in the New York City Half Marathon. Facing them were the likes of Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezhigi, Peter Kamais and the man who won in this city on his full marathon debut in November, Gebre Gebremariam. British men’s marathoning has seen a decline in recent years and there are strong calls for Farah to step up to the long distances and reproduce his excellent track form on the roads. Rupp, his new training partner with Alberto Salazar’s Oregon Project, must have been asked the same questions about ‘stepping up’ in the States. And step up they did. Starting steadily, and still in a lead group of 10 at halfway, Farah and Rupp worked together to push the pace and drop everyone but Gebremariam, a renowned kicker. It came down to a final mile burn-up. Farah outkicked his Ethiopian rival in the closing metres to seal the win in 60:23, a truly world class time and a National record. Andrew Lemoncello, using the race as a warm up for London, ran a personal best time of 63 flat.
It must be remembered, of course, that the man whom Farah beat into second place on Sunday is not just an excellent road runner but a World Cross Country champion to boot. Sunday also saw the latest edition of this event, held this year in the Spanish Town of Punta Umbria. Say what you like about the decline in popularity of Cross Country, but the World Cross is one of the most competitive events on the planet. In conditions usually reserved for summer track meets – I imagine the British guys found it tough – last year’s star of the Diamond League circuit in the 5000m, Imane Merga, kicked away from the Kenyans to secure his first individual title. Having 4 of the top 5, Kenya wrapped up the team gold in style. Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s race with her compatriot Linet Masai taking silver. The USA’s Shalane Flanagan impresed by winning the bronze medal.
With all this racing going on, Zersenay Tadese’s world record attempt at the Lisbon Half Marathon is unbelievably a footnote to this racing review. He came to Portugal last year to remove 10 seconds off Sammy Wanjiru’s record, running a staggering 58:23. He returned on Sunday to try and put the record further out of reach but fell short by 7 seconds. He now holds the two fastest times ever over the distance. The man is without question the best half marathon runner in the world.
Maybe Mo Farah will try and change that.