Deal half marathon 2019
In my preparations for the Greater Manchester Marathon in April, I've been looking to participate in a number of road races as part of the training. My approach differs from last year where I put in all of the hard miles going solo, whereas this year I want to become accustomed to the race environment and want to push myself beyond what I would do in training.
The Deal half marathon was an obvious choice for me as it's relatively local and a quite a few people from my club were running it too. My colleague, Phil, holds the course record and had forewarned me that the course is 'undulating'. Still, it seemed like an ideal opportunity to put in some fast miles.
Having parked at Betteshanger country park with my friend Chris, we collected our race numbers and then made our way down the long driveway to the starting line. The weather was awful; it had rained all morning and there was a fairly strong wind blowing. This would be a testing run.
I shuffled my way to the front and enjoyed the momentary respite from the elements. The rain was beginning to ease, but the wind was still forming some strong gusts. Shortly after 10.30am we were off. The course climbs gradually out of the Betteshanger industrial estate and then turns southwards through Northbourne. I've run a number of these roads before and was well aware of how undulating the landscape is.
The first test was Beacon Hill at around 2.5 miles in. I was maintaining a steady pace at this point and this short but sharp hill was a real tester. Shortly after passing through the village of Sutton there's a long slog of a hill between miles four and five. I was probably in the top ten to fifteen at this stage and was surprised to see my club mate Andy hobbling back along the road. As I passed Andy he pointed at his foot, shook his head and grimaced. It was a real shame for Andy as he'd started really well.
There was some momentary shelter from the strong winds between the villages of West and East Langdon. I was aiming for 1hr 26/27, but felt my pace beginning to drop a little. Needless to say, I was buoyed when, at the halfway point, I saw my parkrun friend David. David was marshalling and calling out halfway point times to everyone. It was great to see him and it helped me to push on a little over the next couple of miles.
The course then turns back on itself through the village of Martin. From here it's net downhill and I was able to put in some fast miles. I exchanged places with a couple of runners from Dover AC and Orpington Road Runners. There was some really positive chat between the runners at this stage as we were all in the same boat and the elements hadn't been kind to us.
I reached 10 miles near Ripple. From here it was a case of getting my head down. Despite the net downhill, there were a few short and sharp energy-sapping hills still to come. At this stage the route forms a loop and so I knew exactly what to expect. It was a great feeling finally heading downhill back towards Betteshanger. After a final incline back into the industrial estate there was a nice steady 0.5miles of downhill to the finish line.
I was delighted to find that I'd finished in 13th position with a time of 1hr 26mins and 20 seconds. I was also delighted to see that two of my fellow Thanet Roadrunners had finished ahead of me and that we had won the team prize. Congratulations to Bradley Cameron and Owen Mitchell on their second and fifth positions, respectively.
Given the conditions I'm really proud of my time. It's a tough course but there's a lot of support in the villages, which really helps. Thanks to Deal Tri for organising the event.
I shuffled my way to the front and enjoyed the momentary respite from the elements. The rain was beginning to ease, but the wind was still forming some strong gusts. Shortly after 10.30am we were off. The course climbs gradually out of the Betteshanger industrial estate and then turns southwards through Northbourne. I've run a number of these roads before and was well aware of how undulating the landscape is.
The first test was Beacon Hill at around 2.5 miles in. I was maintaining a steady pace at this point and this short but sharp hill was a real tester. Shortly after passing through the village of Sutton there's a long slog of a hill between miles four and five. I was probably in the top ten to fifteen at this stage and was surprised to see my club mate Andy hobbling back along the road. As I passed Andy he pointed at his foot, shook his head and grimaced. It was a real shame for Andy as he'd started really well.
There was some momentary shelter from the strong winds between the villages of West and East Langdon. I was aiming for 1hr 26/27, but felt my pace beginning to drop a little. Needless to say, I was buoyed when, at the halfway point, I saw my parkrun friend David. David was marshalling and calling out halfway point times to everyone. It was great to see him and it helped me to push on a little over the next couple of miles.
The course then turns back on itself through the village of Martin. From here it's net downhill and I was able to put in some fast miles. I exchanged places with a couple of runners from Dover AC and Orpington Road Runners. There was some really positive chat between the runners at this stage as we were all in the same boat and the elements hadn't been kind to us.I reached 10 miles near Ripple. From here it was a case of getting my head down. Despite the net downhill, there were a few short and sharp energy-sapping hills still to come. At this stage the route forms a loop and so I knew exactly what to expect. It was a great feeling finally heading downhill back towards Betteshanger. After a final incline back into the industrial estate there was a nice steady 0.5miles of downhill to the finish line.
I was delighted to find that I'd finished in 13th position with a time of 1hr 26mins and 20 seconds. I was also delighted to see that two of my fellow Thanet Roadrunners had finished ahead of me and that we had won the team prize. Congratulations to Bradley Cameron and Owen Mitchell on their second and fifth positions, respectively.
Given the conditions I'm really proud of my time. It's a tough course but there's a lot of support in the villages, which really helps. Thanks to Deal Tri for organising the event.
