Date: Sunday 2nd February 2020
Time: 10:30am
My decision to skip the Regents Park 10K Winter 6 Series has given me 6 free slots on the first Sunday morning of the month from October 2019 to March 2020. One of my free slots is the first Sunday of February 2020 so I signed up to do the Watford Half Marathon. Surprisingly, when my sister and I signed up 2 weeks before the event, it was still not sold out. I guess since this event was cancelled last year due to flood and snow on the route, some runners were put off from this event.
On the race day, it was cold but not freezing. It was drizzling but not pouring with rain. In fact, it was an ideal condition to run. Watford is not far from me, it only took just over half an hour to drive to the venue. The parking was a breeze. The local council carpark is less than 10 minute walk to the Cassiobury Park. The parking was not free though even on Sunday. It charged £5 for whole day. As soon as we had entered the park, we couldn’t miss the massive Race HQ marquee. We got in and immediately felt a lot warmer than outside. There were already hundreds of runners sauntering about getting their bib numbers and time chips, doing stretching, handing in their bags for storage. The pre-race process was very well organised with everything in one place. The portaloos were just opposite to the marquee. There were multiple queues to get the race packs and it didn’t take long for us to queue up. The PA speaker was constantly making announcements to update the runners. There was even a room inside the marquee to provide massage service. They also put a lot of chairs which were extremely useful for the runners to sit down to tie their shoelaces and to put on the time chip strap.
This was my first time running the Watford Half Marathon because I had been spending the 1st Sunday of February running the Regents Park 10k from 2002 to 2019. I heard about the Watford Half Marathon is hilly so this was my opportunity to test the course. I found out from the pre-race information pack that the organiser changed the course this year to avoid the flood risk areas. It also means that the course is even more undulating. I had compared it to the Hertford Half Marathon I did back in November last year and I felt like they are quite similar in terms of the “undulation”.
There were 2 starts with one for the young runners (Men under 40 and Women under 35) and another one for the oldies. The young runners started first. After they had all started, the oldies started. I guess this was to ease the congestion on the narrow paths inside the park. The 2 routes merged together as we left the park. It was quite funny to see the very fast runners from the veteran group (men over 40 and women over 35) treading behind the 2 hour+ pacers from the young group. I’m sure those fast veteran runners wouldn’t want to be seen anywhere near the 2 hours+ pacers.
After the park, we ran through the suburbia of Watford then to the wilderness of Hertfordshire countryside where we faced those tough hills. My sister pulled away from me and I never saw her again. The ascents and descents were very frequent I felt like there was no flat surface. My lung capacity was still lower than my pre-flu level. During the uphill, my legs were slowing so much that I was in between walking and jogging mode. I tried to keep the pace up as best as I could and looked to get back to running mode as soon as I reached to flat surface. I also tried to make up my lost time when dashing downhills. Perhaps I wasn’t fit enough, I just found the hills getting harder and longer to climb one after another. I was overtaken by more and more runners. The last mile was brutal as there was a long hill to climb before crossing the finish line. Seeing the finish flags was a sign of relief the race would soon be over but I had nothing left in my tank to push to finish. My time was poor finishing in 2:18’35”. Had it not been the encouraging words from the lovely Marshalls, I could have even been slower. For full results, please visit:
http://results.eventchiptiming.com/results.aspx?CId=16202&RId=8198
The finish area was just outside the marquee and was very well organised. After picking up my medal, technical t-shirt and drink, I was funnelled to the marquee to pick up my rucksack. It was like clockwork.
Overall, this race was very well organised. It is not a PB course but it provided me with a great session as part of my Milton Keynes Marathon preparation 13 weeks before the race day. Now that I am well and hopefully no more flu from now until at least after Milton Keynes, I definitely need to up my cardiovascular training to improve my respiratory strength. Conscious that the coronavirus is currently spreading out of China to across the world, I must make sure my immune system is kept in good level to fight against the virus.
