Surrey Half Marathon (Woking)

In Two Minds
I had entered Surrey Half last year just after the Guildford race when the price was at its lowest, basically being a sucker for a bargain, and not having any thought about how this might fit in with race plans later in the spring.  Having decided to do Brighton and probably London marathons on 12th and 26th April a half marathon could fit in as a pre-marathon race, but I really think of Fleet Half later in March as fulfilling this role.  However, my training plans at the end of January took a big hit when I came down with flu which caused a 10 day lay-off, left me much weakened and 4-5lbs lighter (a bonus, but not a diet I would recommend).  I ran Wokingham Half on 8th February and really struggled around in 1:56:47 almost collapsing over the line with a coughing fit.  It felt like quite a struggle to recover from that illness and I had to build back up slowly with a few medium distance runs a week at a gentle pace.

Having recently re-evaluated my long term running goals to focus on marathons and ultras, I entered the Thames Meander marathon the week after Surrey, followed by Fleet Half and then a 20 mile club training run the week after that!  March was looking very congested and I was thinking that I could do without another race, especially when realising that it keeps me away from the family for some part of every weekend in the month.  However, looking at my training, I had done a couple of near 40 mile weeks in early March followed by a recovery week.  With Surrey Half, the week prior to my next marathon would be back to 36 miles, a good volume for me and so a steady half marathon was looking like a good run.

Race Day
This year's Surrey Half Marathon was hosted by Woking after the inaugural race last year started and finished in Guildford.  I initially thought this would mean that the race would be held over the same course as last year and be an out and back to Guildford - effectively a reverse of last year.  Instead we got a completely new course starting and finishing at Woking Leisure Centre and running out of the town centre and looping round the countryside to the south of Woking.  The route includes three significant hills at about 6, 8 and 10 miles with some undulations in between.

Kit for the day was club vest (first vest only day of the year), short leggings (no chafing!), toe socks (no blisters!) and my newish Brooks Ghost 7 shoes.  I have done about 80 miles in 3 weeks in these shoes which are neutral and a wide fitting with good cushioning in the forefoot.  I think they suit my running style, but I think I need more support for a marathon, so won't be wearing them next week.

It was a 9am start for the race so I was up at 6am for a breakfast of porridge and beetroot juice (a mystifying choice as I hate beetroot) and I set off for Woking at just gone 7am arriving at the Leisure Centre after a 15 minute walk in cool sunshine at around 8am.  Unlike my last event I really did have everything packed and was wearing my Garmin when I arrived.

I had a mooch around the marquees and met Sarah Erskine who was there to Tweet the heck out of the race, then went up to the Leisure Centre cafe to wait in the warmth and see who else would turn up.  I met Lee Marshall, who was running and Hannah and Chris Gray, who were spectating.  As soon as the queue for the bag drop got noticeable inside the Leisure Centre I joined it and down in the sports hall, met Chris Szabo-Hemmings (SJ) for a quick chat before coming back up to the cafe.  By 8:45 the queue for the bag drop had grown enormously and stretched for 50m out of the Leisure Centre and through the main marquee.  I found James Ball (Cove/Frimley Flyers) and a few SJ runners in the queue and thought they wouldn't make the start on time.  I directed the SJ runners I could find round the back of the sports hall so they could get bags dropped and out to the start on time.  I think this will need a bit of sorting for the next time they run the race from here - and maybe sending people out round the back of the sports hall instead of through reception would give a better flow through the hall.

Start Line
Lining up behind the 1:50 pacers I asked them what a 1:50 pace was in min/mile and then dialled something slightly slower into the Garmin virtual runner.  I met SJ runners Chris Lambourne, Jackie Kent and Collette Callanan at the start and we started the shuffle forwards on time at 9am.  I'm sure I started forwards with the 1:50 pacers next to me, but by the time I had got across the start line they were already 100m away with Chris and the others also out of site.

I thought I would start out for a mile or so aiming for a 1:50:00 time (8:24/mile) and see how it felt, which turned out to be OK, so from then on I just occasionally took a look at my watch to make sure I wasn't getting too ahead of myself.  At about 2 miles I saw Robin Wakefield (Windle Valley) who I know as a Frimley Lodge parkrunner and caught up to him for a bit of a chat.  We were going at about the same pace and were in sight of each other for the next 8 or 9 miles with Robin passing me on the descents and me catching back up on the uphill sections.

Getting an early jump shot in at 4 miles.

The first 2 miles was a run south through Woking's suburbs with a decent amount of support from the locals and the occasional band playing.  From about 2 miles to 11.5 miles the course is out in the countryside, woodland and farms and small villages with pubs popular with supporters.  One section of the course comes out onto the main A320 at about 3 miles to 5 miles on an out and back loop.  Not long after I got on to this section the elite and fast club runners started to pass by on the other side of the road with an almost 2 mile lead after only 35 minutes!  This section affected my pace quite a lot as I sped up when running opposite the fast guys, then after the turn, when the people I could see on the other side were slower, I slowed down myself. Time to get back on track.

Paige being shadowed by Monica of SJ.

The hills on the course were not that dramatic, lasting only 5 minutes or so for the bigger ones and it seemed easy to just flow along at a comfortable pace.  Not being stressed out by time pressures or hot weather meant I felt relaxed and I got to chatting with whoever I came up to, pulling people along with me for a few hundred metres at a time.  Around half way Collette Callanan came cruising up from behind for a chat. This was a bit of a shock as Collette is usually breezing along at sub 1:30:00 pace, but she was using this event as a training run trying to get used to the idea of running slowly and we stayed together for a few more miles.  "People back here are breathing hard and putting a good effort in!" she said. A bit of a revelation for someone usually at the pointy end of a race.  Actually slow runners work just as hard as the fast guys and they do it for much longer too, so it's worth staying behind and cheering in the bottom half of the field at the end.

Helpful support from Hannah on the way back into Woking
"Stop looking at this sign and keep running!"

As with any long race, with 6 miles to go I start to break the distance down into the smallest numbers possible and it starts with me calling out 2 parkruns to go, then 5 and 4 miles (counting on one hand now!) and then only 1 parkrun.  With 3 miles to go I still felt good and decided to pick up the pace a bit after climbing the final hill.  The run in to the finish felt really good, and seems mostly downhill or flat all the way in apart from one railway bridge and a little rise of a few metres with a few hundred metres to go.  At 12 miles I could see the 1:50 pacers just in front and caught up to them to thank them for doing a good job and they cheered me on as I ran past.  With 400m to go I passed Collette, with cheers from her ringing in my ears, and crossed the line in 1:48:15.

Past the finish line we got water, a Bounce ball of energy food, a banana, but no bag full of leaflets, which was just fine by me.  After getting changed and back out to the finish I met up with SJ and other runners who all seemed pleased with their morning's effort.

Afters

Me, James, Paige and Alex

That was my second fastest half marathon, just over 1 minute from a PB and felt really comfortable. Realising just how easy that run felt reminds me just how much my running has come on over the last year and gives me more confidence for the coming races.  Splits for this race were nice and even, even though I was doing a lot of chatting along the way:

8:21 8:18 8:21 8:19 8:26 8:16 8:19 8:26 8:26 8:24 8:15 7:53 7:28 1:02@6:21/m

Selected Sandhurst Joggers finishing times:
Erol Ali 01:34:02, Chris Lambourne 01:40:02, Jacqueline Kent 01:43:02, Philip Turner 01:44:41, Katie Harris 1:46:12, Chris Szabo-Hemmings 01:47:26, Matt Johnson 02:05:54, Kerstin Johnson 02:24:33, Monica Bannergee-Burbidge  02:33:16.

Others:
Robin Wakefield (Windle Valley) 1:51:55
James Ball (Cove/Frimley Fliers) 1:37:37
Alex Halfacre 1:37:39
Philip Clark 2:06:08
Paige Dixon 2:34:05

Special mention goes to James Ball and Alex Halfacre for, as James would put it "Smashing through 100 minutes!" for a new PB.

Well done everyone! It was a very good race, in good conditions with good support out on the course and lots of people posted very good times.

Thanks to Chris Gray for taking the photos.