Haven't posted in quite a while as haven't actively been training for any races. Decided to sign up for a half at the start of June here in Lux which took place this morning.
First one I've done since 2019. Training went pretty well. Got up to 17, 19, 20, 20, 19 kms up to 4 weeks out from the race. 2 week family holiday for the 4th and 3rd week before the race wasn't an ideal run in before tapering but I gambled on getting the hard work done prior. Kept myself ticking over in the sun to offset the food and drink.
Unfortunately contracted an awful virus traveling out that affect glands and eyes of all places (still have blurred vision in one eye). Rare but apparently takes about 1/1.5 months to fully clear the system. This meant once I came home and back to work I was fla'd like I can't remember before. I ran between 3 and 5 km every second day to try and get some sort of morale but I could manage about 500m and walking. My body just wouldn't go.
Spirits weren't great in the few days leading up to this morning. I honestly half expected just walk off the course in the first 5 km. I managed 8km slog on Friday night and yesterday I was actually a bit energetic out with the kids.
Decided to give it a lash this morning as the work was done and I didn't want the empty feeling of having done it without the end result of at least getting to compete.
The race is very flat and a weird one that reverses on itself at 3.2k and 13.8 up and down a road parallel a river separating Lux and Germany.
During training I was aiming for under 2h but breaking 1h55 in the back of my mind. PB is 1h48 17 from 2017 (6 years and 10 kilos ago).
The plan was to go out around 5m20 a km and se where I sat at around 16 k and make a call at that point. The virus threw everything out the window and I feared dropping off a cliff dramatically when the fatigue set in. I decided to go out quicker and hang on for as long as I could at a pace I could settle at and bank some time. The rationale was that if I was going to fall off anyway, might as well do it further up the road.
The start was a bit poor in my opinion (6th or 7th time I've done this race). We were penned in on one lane of the road and took 2.5 mins to get to the start line after the gun. I was half way up the group of about 1300 people. I checked the results last year and the finish time vs clocked time for people who finished around me was about 30 seconds lag so not sure what happened this year.
The road opened up quickly so it wasn't an issue once you got over the line and both lanes of the road were accessible. With race euphoria etc I went through the first 3 k at 4m49, 4m52 and 4m43. I was already having conversations with myself about how I hadn't been here in 4 years and make the most of it etc. I was living in my own head. I wasn't really enjoying it but I was moving.
We turned 180 at 3.2k and we fou d ourselves running at those directly behind us, only one lane for out and one for back and no barrier between. Honestly there were a few hairy moments where a head on collision felt certain between people but all seemed to survive after some fleet footedness and swearing. This distracted my a little and we passed by the start line at 6.5 and the host town at 6.5k. The cheering etc got me through to 7k and a first gel (4m49, 4m52, 4m55,4m51).
From here to 13.8k which turned us back again was one long straight road which was pretty much penned in on both side. Previous incarnations of this race was out and back the other direction along the river, with views the whole way. This section was replaced by fences outside camper parks for the most part. I kept consistent but I really took in very little around me. It was an inner battle constantly with myself in which I believed any drop in pace would be dramatic and not gradual and I was examining my garmin like a maniac. Sometimes every 100m for fear I was slowing. I didn't break a 5m km til 11k and even so,km 15 was 5m02.
From here to the finish I never experienced the struggle before. I've had worse pain in full marathons with cramp etc but the internal battle trying to convince myself to lift the legs and inspire myself was torture. The road was so straight also, I couldn't tell if I was losing pace, the people around me were going quicker or slower or what was relative in that sense. I was staring at the garmin at times. I'm convinced if I could have seen myself run that I was most likely hunched over either watching people's runners or my watch. The best way to describe it was, I honestly don't remember what happened in those KMs but at the time it felt like eternity - autopilot and the mind had half checked out.
I found myself at 18km at 1h31ish mand a realisation hit somehow that I'd been so busy hanging on (I'd slowed to 5m15 km) that breaking 1h50 was an outside possibility. I say outside because I didn't really believe I'd hang on and I really had trouble gauging how the body felt at all (it sounds odd but it's the only way I can describe it. I think my system was shot from the virus, my mind was finding a way to cope and I'd the training in the bank).
I went through 20k at 1h41 and change and, hand on heart, i still didn't know if I make it. Any other race, I'd be ecstatic and eating the road to the finish. Here, I was just out of it. Weirdly enough, the was a 10k option who went off later. They turned and joined us at 19.5 km or so to the finish. It got crowded and I think I just kept going with the increase in bodies around me.
My wife and kids were at the barrier 200m from the end. They never registered with me. I finished 1h47m45. It was a mad feeling. I was wearing sunglasses and I couldn't correlate the struggle with the end result. I was very emotional without anyone really noticing and sat down for a few mins to compose myself before searching out the family.
I'm clearly over the moon that I PB'd but I have no explanation as to how. I really probably shouldn't have ran but the body still performed. It was the hardest race I've ever run and I've done many marathons and 30k + trail runs. The struggle was on another level mentally.
Apologies if this isn't a traditional style race report. It's was such an unusual race experience it felt worth sharing
