Shakespeare Half Marathon - 08 May 2011...

Distance: 13.1 miles

In a time of...
hh:mm:ss
01:13:05

Finishing Position: 1
Number of finishers: 1667
Putting me in the top: 0.05%

Those who I speak to often will have known for some time that I'd been specifically targeting this as one of my main events for the year - it holds a special place in my heart and I consider it my 'home race' - despite having lived away from Stratford for a good few years now, it's where I grew up, and it was this race 5 years ago which saw me get into running and try to shed some of my excess 'podge'.

Long ago I had targeted this to be my first proper 'sub 70min' half marathon attempt - though as the event drew nearer, it became increasingly evident that was never going to happen - A flurry of reasonable 10k race times suggested that in fact, I'd be hard pushed to break my PB from the Birmingham Half Marathon in October 2010 - a somewhat disappointing prospect knowing how much time and effort went into training throughout the winter. Never-the-less, as race day approached the target was to ideally set a new PB, but above all else, to finish as high up the field as possible - I was to be racing for position, and time was to be a mere consequence of this. I knew I had a strong chance of being on the podium, and a reasonable chance of winning, but ultimately it was to be a case of waiting to see what other competition turned up on the day.

Race morning came after a good (albeit shorter than ideal) night's sleep, some minor tightness in the quads which was still lingering after a tough downhill/uphill rep session from over a week before (I really buggered up my quads something chronic within the space of about 1mi of repetitions!), but generally I felt great and ready to go. I arrived in Stratford, parked the car on the south side of the river, and began jogging to the start as a warmup - before realising I hadn't put my race number on - oops! Back to the car I went.

Finally at the start, it seemed an eternity before the race was underway - I was determined not to get carried away in the early stages but sat at the front of the race, either leading it myself, or running alongside other leaders. I normally never wear a watch/GPS device while racing and try to 'run as I feel', but since there was a Range Rover with a whopping great big race time clock attached to the roof, it was hard to ignore how time was progressing.

The pleasant first mile loop of the town was completed in somewhere around 5:30-5:32, which was "ideal" as I'd told myself - the plan being to sit at 5:30/mi and if there was anything left in the latter stages, to push on. Fellow club member Mick Williams shouting advice to 'tuck in' behind the other runners rather than doing all the work and leading the group, acting as a windbreak for others - there was a noticeable headwind as we ran in a westerly direction. As sensible as the advice was - I was comfortable and didn't want to ease the pace unnecessarily. By 1.5mi the lead group was down to 2... or at least there was only really 2 of us leading, the rest may have only been a few steps behind but it was myself and another runner who I know well, Rob Minton, who lead the race. We passed the 2mi marker with another 5:32 mile (give or take a few seconds), and approached the first drinks station, taking a few sips of water before pressing on. Mile 3 passed in another 5:30 (impressively consistent for me!) and as the headwind which has been apparent for most of the race continued, I began to wonder what effect it was having on pace and how much faster we'd be running if it weren't for the breeze slowing progress.

Somewhere between 3mi and 3.75mi Rob started to fall away from me. Passing 4mi in 5:32 (ish) I tackled the first climb steadily, effort levels rising during the climb but settling again at the summit - any time I'd lost on the climb was more or less made up on the descent which . At the 5mi marker I was 11secs behind 5:30/mi pace (27:41 time elapsed). At this point there was a 90 degree left hand turn onto a main road - I took the opportunity to make a subtle glance over my shoulder and see what sort of gap (if any) I'd opened to the following runners. Nothing... I couldn't see anyone! There was a hidden dip and a bit of a bend in the road but certainly the 150m or so that I could see was clear.

It was at this point I started to believe I would be able to win, just as long as I didn't do anything stupid! When that feeling set in, there was a tingling of the spine and I felt a little overcome with emotion to think I could possibly win my hometown half marathon - it wasn't helped as I saw my mother stood supporting at the side of the road up ahead - I could see her seemingly not able to stand still with excitement as I approached, she cheered as I came past - that made me a very happy man.

6mi passed at a similar sort of pace, but I was then entering what I knew were the slowest two miles of the race... 6-7mi consisted of a steady incline into Welford and a dropped cup of water at the drinks station - I can't remember what time I did for this mile. Mile 7-8, despite having a steep descent past the 8mi marker, had a much longer, steeper, and slower climb than the one into Welford, I recall falling a few seconds short of a 6 minute mile and new that even a new PB was starting to look like a bit of a challenge now.

After the steep descent past the 8mile marker, I was well aware that the rest of the course was virtually pancake flat with no more climbs to contend with - legs starting to fatigue a little I came past the 9mile marker having clawed 10seconds back with 5:20 for the mile. Somewhere between the 9 & 10 mile markers, the lead car came to a halt as course joined onto the 'greenway'... an old/disused railway line which had been turned into a long scenic path made from some type of gravelly surface which breaks down over time to leave a chalky hard packed surface with a thin covering of small gravel stones - in previous years this had been very dusty and hard to get good traction on, whereas this year the overnight rain had helped to dampen the surface and hold it together a little better. I was now following a guy on a bike with a hi-vis vest.

A small drink at the penultimate drinks station and I tried to push on along the 2-2.5mi stretch along the greenway... I could feel some discomfort in my legs, but I knew that I'd experienced a lot more discomfort in my training sessions - I knew I could be going faster, but in the knowledge that I had no runners ahead of me, a good gap to those behind me, and only a slim chance of knocking a couple of seconds off my PB - I struggled to motivate myself enough to really push to the limit. Thoughts even started to come into my head about the 10km race I was due to compete in the next weekend and whether I should ease off in order to save myself for that. The end result is that I continued to push as hard as I comfortably could.

Coming off the greenway around 12mi I neglected to take a drink from the drinks station (there seemed little point) and progressed along Severn Meadow Road before switching back and following a footpath down towards the River. The final stretch alongside the River Avon was just a really enjoyable experience - the crowd support was great and my smile was growing bigger and bigger by the second - all fatigued seemed to disappear from my legs as I knew the finish line was just around the corner. I ran past mother once again who had a smile equal in size to mine, then the club chairman who congratulated me with a handshake/hi-five as I passed. "Here comes the first placed runner, Richard Simkiss of Kenilworth... Harriers" said the announcement in the distance - I tutted to myself as I approached the final turn "It's Kenilworth Runners you idiot, not Harriers!" I turned onto the final straight knowing I'd missed my PB but still picked up the pace - punching the air in delight I crossed the finish line as winner.

It was strange - I've won races in the past and pushed a lot harder - but the event is obviously quite big one (in terms of local reputation), I was soon greeted by a plenty of people congratulating me left right and centre - the local newspapers asking questions and even the local area BBC radio station grabbing me for a quick interview - nuts!

Just over two and a half minutes later was second placed runner, my clubmate - Phil Gould... a phenomenal run from him. Rob Minton who had ran side by side with me in the earlier stages of the race came home in fifth place. Other club members from Kenilworth were home within the 1hour 27minute mark, but despite the teams great performance, the team prize was awarded to Stratford Athletic Club, who had the first four runners home. I was a little shocked that the team prize was awarded on this basis and not using the usual scoring system of each runners position added together, and the team with the lower score winning. So despite having our team finishing in individual positions of 1st, 2nd, 27th & 31st (Total = 61), we were deemed 'runners-up' to Stratford, who's team finished in 5th, 10th, 23rd, 26th (Total = 64). A tad frustrating, but little that could be done.

The question now is whether to target the Warwickshire County Championships (Kenilworth Half Marathon - 4th September 2011), or whether to forego that in favour of competing in the Bristol Half Marathon a week later, which is typically a much more competitive race.