COPENHAGEN HALF MARATHON 2022
RACE REPORT
Up and at ‘em for an 11:15 gun yesterday. The young lad came in and stayed with me overnight and we got the metro down to the race zone for 10:15. Togged off, threw in the bags and went for a 2-mile warmup with a few strides. Fierce disorganised crowd management before the race but we got into the pen OK and once the elites were introduced, BANG!, we were off.
Crowded as usual for the first few hundred metres and then we got going OK. I never check the watch until the mile mark but I felt like I was running hard at a good race pace. Then mile 1 beeps and I see a fairly pedestrian 6:50 clock up- Jaysus, barely under 1:30 pace. No point in pushing harder - the effort felt right and I’d just have to see if anything better came along.
Still a bit of panic though and the next few miles felt like heavy going but we gradually got the pace moving. The road was fierce crowded and the was loads of traffic islands all over the shop so it was often hard to get space to run.
Good water stations and large (albeit silent) support - you knew you were in a big city race for sure. As we climbed towards five miles I could see I was gradually pulling ahead of the 1:30 pace so that was a relief and I settled into a decent rhythm.
Miles 1 to 5 - 6:50,6:38,6:46,6:39,6:37
We turned onto Frederiksberg and I was passed by a group of 10 or 12 running together(6 or 7 beors). This was a really cool, flag-lined avenue with a bit of a downhill so I tagged on and chatted with them for a bit. They were going for 1:27 so that suited me given the performance over the first miles.
My own splits were much healthier now and this was definitely the best part of the race - even the climb to halfway was OK. We crossed the half mat with 43:57 on the watch - indicating a 1:28 finish.
Around the corner at 12 k and another nice drop for my fastest mile of the day before hitting the old part of the city and running past the castles and parliament. This was a fierce twisty stretch and I got bumped at a water station but was still a lot happier with the running
Miles 6 to 10 - 6:25,6:31,6:23,6:29, 6:37
Things wobbled a bit in mile 10 and 11 - lots of climbing over flyovers and twist corners meant there was no rhythm but once o got to 11 a real stride kicked in and I started to pass fierce crowds of runners all the way from here on. The last turn seems to take a long time to come and then there was almost a full kn to run to the line. I was in good shape coming up along here and crossed the line in fairly calm mode!
Miles 11 to end - 6:35,6:27,6:26 (6:18)
