Craig Batterham wrote on 1 March
December 19th 2021 was my first ever half marathon. Five months after starting the Couch 2 5k and the day after my birthday was a good target. I worked through the 5k, 10k and 21k apps and had the distance built up in time but not the experience or wisdom of races under my belt. I ended up Jeffing (walking bits) it for a time of 2:04:49
I was loving my racing then (not sure I’ve ever mentioned that) and had started booking so many up for the year ahead. I got it into my head to run one Half Marathon every month of 2022 so started searching them out online and signing up. I wanted to normalise the distance as I found that 21.1 number intimidating. Because of a flare up of OA in my knee in the summer there were a couple of months I didn’t run a HM but I still managed to run 16 of them between January and December, so I considered that a win. What I didn’t do though was get faster.
The first six months of running were the honeymoon period for sure. Every single race and any distance was a new PB and I thought this would just carry on, the more I ran the better I would get. My second HM in Farnborough was 2:05:41, my third in Brighton was 2:11:46 but was the first one I ran 100% of, thanks mostly to the crowds along the way cheering everyone on. The run into the finish felt fantastic. I enjoyed the experience so much I booked onto the next one as soon as I got the email telling me early bird deals were available. There was no way I would have got a PB there because of the hills and the strong headwinds along the seafront for the last 5k but I’d managed the whole distance without Jeffing, the rest of the year was only going to get better! 💪🏻
Wrong. I never came close to the time of that first HM the whole year with the Big Half coming in at 2:37:18 on my return from the knee issues I’d been having. Hackney was my slowest the whole year but that day was so hot there were queues at the water stations and I didn’t want to push after seeing so many people laid at the side of the road suffering from the heat. Then this year, after starting work with Jenny in the November I was back at Farnborough where I had targeted a PB attempt which turned out to be a swing and a miss.
So when Jenny said that Brighton could be a tempo run and not another easy I was happy. I’d enjoyed the race and atmosphere so much the year before I was looking forward to having fun running the course. I’d seen all the sights anyway from when I lived in Hove. 2022 had been a beautifully clear day with bright sunshine and chill temperatures but the wind from the east had been super strong. So with no real wind forecast for the day I was hopeful of getting a course PB and running under 02:11:46
For the 2022 race I had made the mistake of relying on trains to get me there and had faced rail replacement buses and delays not to mention having to get up super early, even for me. So this year I booked a hotel. The expense of that outweighed the stress I had felt previously, and I had a great night’s sleep after a ramen and some bang bang cauliflower and an early night. I felt good in the morning, ready for the run ahead. Being so close to the start allowed me to leave much closer to race time and avoid the queue for the toilet or the bag drop, just a short walk down to the seafront and straight into the starting pen.
They started releasing the waves and the parade of runners up to the start line moved forward. Crossing the timing mat the throng bounced down Madeira Drive with those chomping at the bit trying to weave in and out through any gap that opened up. I don’t get what benefits come from expending this much energy in the first few hundred meters, the runners would soon open up on the hill. So I tucked myself in behind a couple and paced them until we got to the base of the hill. Everyone hung a hard right and we headed out towards the marina. It’s this hill (and the chance of wind) that had caused me to discount a PB today but I was also looking forward to the most from the whole race. Did I ever mention I liked hills?
When I am running in a race like this I’ll look ahead and pick someone in the distance and adjust my pace slightly to catch them, doesn’t always work, sometimes they are going faster than I fancy on the day. If I start to feel like I am pushing a little too hard I’ll settle in behind someone and relax a little. Bring the breathing and heart rate back under control. When I was 3-4km in I checked the watch. My pace was too fast, this wasn’t going to be sustainable, I was going to blow up just like Farnborough. I felt great though so just went with it. This was a fun run, might as well enjoy it as best I can.
At the switch back everyone headed back down into Brighton and the 2hr pace group were close behind coming up the other side of the road. A run out to Victoria Gardens and back gave me another glimpse of the pace group. Were they closer? Turning onto Grand Junction Road and Kings Road the crowds had swelled and the energy they were giving off was palpable. This marked around half way, checked the watch, still too fast. I was going to blow up soon, I kept expecting a flood of people around me as the 2hr pace group passed. 10k left, I felt great! Keep going. If I struggle later at least I’ve had fun getting there.
The last switchback takes us up onto Hove seafront with a short climb up off the road. I remembered the force of the wind hitting me in the face at this point last year so was happy it was nothing more than a slight breeze this time. Just up ahead a dad was crossing the course with his young son who fell. Dragging the kid behind him and starting to run across the course they ended up in the path of a runner and everyone went down hard. I hope the runner was ok. Avoiding the pile up I had around 5k to go and still felt great so I just kept going still sure I was going to blow up sometime soon and the pace group behind me would swarm past.
As I got into the last kilometre I checked the time on the watch. Even if I slowed right down now I’d beat last years time, if I stuck to the pace I was going to get a new PB. Something would have to go very wrong to screw that up now. I mentally checked in with my body and,head down, picked up the speed, I was so surprised at how this race had gone and wanted to finish as strong as I could and get as good a PB as possible. When I looked up the finish was a few hundred meters away, checked the watch and saw I was at 1:57ish. Somehow a sub 2hr was possible!
I needed to sprint the finish and I could achieve something I’d been after for over a year now. I knew this, I’d trained for this, I’d given this exact situation and the reason behind some of the interval sessions I’d led at track. I poured all that training, all that coaching, all that experience, into my legs and ran like a madman for the finish. I checked the watch straight after crossing the line, 01:59:30!
I could not stop smiling as I walked through the finish funnel to collect the foil blanket, medal and goodie bag.