Today I ran a half marathon at Semaphore as part of the coastalfunruns Easter Bunny Run, which also included a 10k and a 5k.
coastalfunruns has been going for a while now, and you can read a bit more about it in my post from my first coastalfunruns event in 2017 – essentially the same course that I ran today for the half.
The half marathon course was: north for about 3ish km, back to the start, south for about 2ish km, back to the start, then repeat. All the distances started together at 7am, turning around at different points on the northward sections, and all turning around at the same southern point. The 5 and 10k runners did one lap and the 21.1km runners did 2 laps. The wind was coming from the south.
I’d only run one other coastalfunruns event after that one, technically not ‘coastal’ but a marathon around the 2.2km Uni Loop. In my defence, in case you’re thinking ‘that’s totally insane’, I was training for the 24 hour race in the same location and it seemed like the perfect way to get in a sneaky training run AND get a medal for it! I can’t imagine actually WANTING to do such an event for any other reason (sorry Chris! Although, there were a few other people out there that day!)
Back to today. It was very much a last-minute decision. Yesterday morning, my plan for today was to go out and run 21.1km to practise for the Adelaide half marathon in 2 weeks. And I was thinking that if I got to 18km and I wasn’t feeling it, 18km would be enough. I’d wear my race shoes, and use all the gels, energy drink etc – a real dress rehearsal.
Then sometime yesterday afternoon I remembered that there was an actual half marathon on today – a 7am start, which is what time I normally start anyway (albeit a bit further away than my normal run, but I’d still get up early to eat breakfast, so other than a slightly longer drive, really there was not much difference). When I checked the website around 4:30pm, entries were still open, and $30 for the half marathon, so I figured, it would be rude not to! So I did!
So I was up at 5am to eat breakfast and get myself organised to drive down to Semaphore. Having not checked the weather forecast, it was a bit colder than I expected, and I was in a tank top and shorts. It was also somewhat windy which did not really bode well as the entire course is along the coast! I opted to attach my bib to my top rather than to a race belt, because the thought of having the bib flapping in the wind for 21.1km did not spark joy. Also I forgot to put my race belt in my car, so really there was no decision to be made!
I did a few things differently to what I plan to do on race day. Firstly I did not have a week detox from caffeine – that’s pretty hard when I only decided to run the event less than 24 hours earlier! I also didn’t clip my toenails and I’m not going to post a photo but let’s just say I was glad I swapped the white socks for black ones! I didn’t do a warmup either – I figured I don’t normally warm up for a long run, so I could use the first 1-2km of the half marathon as a warmup. On Adelaide Marathon day I will definitely be warming up! Oh, and the day before Adelaide I will not be trying to smash a parkrun PB like I did yesterday (TRYING to smash a PB, not actually accomplishing it – if I had accomplished it, that alone would have been worthy of a blog post!)
Last Sunday I participated in ‘Run Army’ which is part of a larger event run in Brisbane and Townsville, a fundraiser for Legacy and aimed at members of the Army and also this year the Metropolitan Fire Service (which I almost applied for last year and still may). I did the 10km run, having not done a 10k ‘race’ since February 2017! It was a hot morning, and felt very hard, and surprisingly nowhere near a PB! I ran in my race shoes (Nike Vaporfly) and my legs felt like lead until about Thursday. I couldn’t understand it, I run 5k in those shoes almost every week at parkrun and never have any issues. It was only this morning that I realised what the issue was – for parkrun I don’t wear orthotics, but for longer distances I always have. So I made sure to put the orthotics in for today’s half!
I didn’t really try to keep to any kind of pace. There was a little bit of elevation in the course (only 62m according to my Strava, which is nothing really), but the wind was the main factor affecting my pace. I started out around 4:30 pace, and in the end my average pace was 4:33, so I’d say I managed to keep a relatively consistent pace, slowing down a bit running into the wind, and towards the end, which is totally expected! And I managed to pull out one of my faster kilometres at the end, which I am always happy to be able to do, and I’m not going to say it was because I had the wind behind me at that stage!
The wind was very noticeable when running into it, but seemed to drop off when I was running with it – although the first few kilometres (wind assisted) did feel very easy.
I had an energy drink half an hour before the start, then a gel 15 minutes before the start, and the second gel between 9 and 10km.
One thing to note for next time, is that although there is a drink station at the start/finish (which the half marathoners pass 4 times), it’s not like a marathon drink station at a bigger event, with cups of water on the table. Runners could put their own drinks on the table, and I could see a cask of water there but no cups. And being unprepared, I didn’t have a receptacle on me. However, there were a number of public water fountains along the course, and being a cooler morning, it wasn’t really an issue. Note to self – probably read the race briefing!
The gels I like (Pure) are quite liquid in consistency so I find I don’t really need to consume them with water (although it is better if you do), which makes it easier, not having to coordinate it with where water is available. Normally on a training run I will have water on me.
Not that it is a race, this is an event that is very much focused on participation (the biggest trophy is reserved for the best costume, which was appropriately awarded to Colin who did the 5k in an inflatable Easter Bunny costume) but there WAS a first place male and first place female medal for the half. In my two previous coastalfunruns events I have finished second. Notably for the Uni Loop event I was beaten by Jenny who had (much like me today) entered last minute, thinking it might be ‘fun’. I didn’t know too many of the people running in the half today, so I figured I might be a chance! The out and back nature of the course means I could easily see where I was at!
I was ahead at the first turnaround point, but I wasn’t sure exactly how far. On the second lap I took note of when I crossed paths with the second placed female. and worked out she was at least 5 minutes behind me. So unless she had a hell of a back half in her, I should be pretty safe!
I was a bit worried about the second placed guy, who was only 300m behind me at the last turnaround, with about 1.5km to go. He looked like he might be able to put on a late surge but I managed to hold him off.
In the end I finished in (according to Strava) 1:36:59 which, although a bit slower than I hope to run at Adelaide (last year I scraped in under 1:35 but I’ve heard they’ve put a few more hills in this year, so sub 1:35 may be a bit ambitious! I got a sweet medal with the number ‘1’ on it, the first time I have ever got one of those in 45 half marathons! Turned out the guy who came first, a few minutes ahead of me, also entered yesterday – I happened to notice he was second last on the list of half marathon entrants (I was last)
I’ll tell you what, deciding to enter an event last minute definitely prevents overthinking it!
Overall I was happy with how it went, and hopefully I can replicate/improve in 2 weeks time!
It’s a great community event, very low cost (even though I entered last minute it only cost me $30, including a medal – and even at that low price, a significant percentage of that goes to cancer research!) and it’s definitely an event that caters to everyday runners as opposed to the bigger events which also cater to ‘normal people’ but definitely also attract elites. So for those who are a bit intimidated by turning up at an event full of elites, these events are definitely for you! Especially if you like dressing up, because that’s always a big part of it!
Although the course is not very exciting, it is nice to see the other runners several times throughout the event, particularly for us half marathoners on the second lap, where it could have otherwise been quite a lonely run!
Thanks and congratulations to Chris and all the volunteers for all the work you do to put on these events! Hopefully it won’t be another 6 years before I come out to another one!
