Torbay Half Marathon completed in 1:43:36

I'm really pleased to say that I completed the Torbay Half Marathon yesterday in a course record time of 1:43:36.  I'm happy with this time as it is a strong course record for me with my previous best on this course being 1:55:16 from 2007.  Also, last year I struggled around in 2:00:16 so this is nearly 17 minutes quicker (i.e., about 1min 20seconds per mile, which is quite a big improvement).

It was a great race for many reasons:

• As well as me running the event, my wife, sister-in-law and my father-in-law were all running the race and we all finished the event being really happy with our respective times.
• It was the first relatively large event that I ran where a large number of club mates were also participating.  About 40 Teignbridge Trotters did the event and there were lots of other Trotters out on the course cheering everyone on, which was great and really added to the atmosphere.
• Prior to the race I had arranged to meet up with an old school friend and his brother.  I hadn't seen the school mate for probably nearly 20 years, although I do see his brother occasionally when I'm out running.  It was great to meet up for a couple of beers after the race with them and hopefully we'll do it again soon.

I'm skirting around the subject, but as I mentioned in a previous post I wanted to do well in this event and I wanted to beat my sister-in-law.  We had a bet on which said the loser would buy a round of drinks after the race and  I'm pleased to say that I managed to beat her (it could be said that I annihilated her...) quite comfortably with my 1:43:36 against her 1:48:19.  This is the first time I've managed to beat her and it's good that her time of 1:48 would previously comfortably have been good enough, so it does show that my training is paying off.  She did really well too though, and she's already challenged me for a rematch on this course next year.

In terms of the preparation for the event, I think I learned a few things from it.  I have tracked my calorie intake in the run up to the event on MFP and although it was (obviously) way over for the days prior to the event I felt more prepared for an event than ever before.  Basically, if I was hungry I ate more or less what I wanted, with the focus on carbs.  For example, on Saturday afternoon I found myself feeling peckish and even though it was only a couple of hours until our evening meal I bought a large cheese baguette.  I think this mentality and approach really helped.

Also, the event itself went well.  The splits for the event were 8:20, 8:05, 7:53, 7:43, 7:48, 8:01, 7:37, 7:49, 7:48, 7:39, 7:43, 8:28, 7:39.  It was a slow first mile as it always tends to be at these relatively big events (1500+ finishers) but this suits me really as it forces me to start off steadily.  The 8:28 for the 12th mile is due to a hill so although it may look like I was drastically tiring there, the hill is the reason.  Looking at the Garmin I negative split by about 20 seconds so I'm pleased with that too!

Weather conditions were more or less perfect I'd say as it was cool with a bit of drizzle in the air for some of it.  For about 2 miles (2 lots of 1 mile from Torquay back towards Paignton) there was a bit of a headwind but it was manageable.

It's unfortunate that it's not a PB (1:42:02 at Bideford from March is my PB) but I'm still really pleased as I think Torbay is a tougher course.  Yesterday was the end of the the first week of my Autumn marathon training plan, so I'm starting in good shape for that I hope.

So, all in all, a great event...made even better by me getting a couple of cheeky beers in at my SiL's expense!