Humber Bridge Half Marathon

Date: June 24, 2007
Weather: Cool, Cloudy
TOD: 1030


I almost didn't make it to this race, simply because I was tired and didn't feel like making the drive. I had just come off a cycle of mids and my sleep schedule was all messes up. I was also feeling kind of down and didn't want to leave the house. I know I always feel better after running, so I forced myself to get out of bed, get dressed, and hop in the car. I was glad that I did.

The race was in Hessle, which is in North Yorkshire, but was still about a hour drive from Harrogate. I almost got lost because whoever designed the road system here in England was an idiot. The directions stated to take the M62 for about 30 miles then get on the A63. Well, on the way down the M62 I passed about 3 exits for the A63. I was so confused, but I decided stick with my intuiton and stay on the M62. The M62 eventually turned into the A63, which made even less sense to me.

Anyway, I got there about an hour early, which was a good thing because parking was getting sparse. I parked my car and headed for the race gathering area. There was a fun run which started a hour before the half marathon so the place was littered with children. It was nice to see kids actually doing something that didn't involve a vidoe game for once.

At about 10:25 everyone started heading out into the street for the start of the half marathon. It started in a small village named Hessle. We wound through the streets for about 2 miles, then headed out to the Humber Bridge. The Humber Bridge is the second largest single span suspension bridge in the world. I expected it to be longer. I think we ran on it for about a mile or so, but honestly I wasn't really paying attention. At this point in the race I had little expectations of making a PR because of the fact that there were so many people and no room to pass on the street or on the bridge. The streets were very narrow with only one lane blocked from traffic, and the bridge was even more narrow because they had us running on the pedestrian walkway along the side of the bridge. It wasn't engineered to have hundreds of people running on it at one time. As we neared the edge of the bridge we hit a downhill which was nice because I was able to make up some time.

We then crossed the county lines into Lincolnshire where we ran through a small village named Barton Upon Humber. I wonder who named these towns? I assume that it means the town of Barton overlooking the River Humber. Why don't they just call it Barton? It would be much easier to write.

The race was fairly easy up until this point. As we approached mile 7 we started heading out of Barton and out towards some fields of sheep and cows, the usual Yorkshire backdrop. I was makeing excellent time. I had been running about a 7:15 to 7:30 pace for a few miles. I was getting all excited that I just might cross the finish line in the high 1:30's when my hopes were violently laid to rest as we approached the never ending hill of wrath. The hill started at approx mile 7.5 and didn't end until about 9.5. To make it worse it was one of those windy hills, where just as you think you have the top in site, the road winds to the left and the hill continues. It was horrid. At this point I gave up on my PR and refused to check my pace. I didn't want to know how slow I was going. All I could do was remind myself that what goes up must come down. Little did I know that this isn't always the case.

As we approached the top of the hill I realized that it just leveled out. There was no down hill to make time up on. To make things worse we soon approached the Humber Bridge again, only to be running up hill once again. And once again there was no downhill at the other side. It just leveled out. I looked at my watch and realized I could still make it across the finish line in the low to mid 1:40's if I gave it all I got for the last 2 miles. I told myself it just a PT test, just 8 laps around the track. The last 2 miles seemed to take forever, but I did it. I crossed the finish line at 1:43:05, almost 2 minutes faster than Blackpool, and Blackpool was completely flat. It was an awesome feeling.

My next race is my first Ultra Marathon. It's in 2 weeks, in York England. I love York. It's one of my favorite cities here in the UK. I am not worried about time for this one. I am only worried about finishing. I am number 54, which leads me to believe that there aren't too many people running this race.