Sunday 19 November was a beautiful crisp sunny morning and I was participating in the very first Hertfordshire Half Marathon. Starting and finishing in front of the iconic Knebworth House which has featured in many films including The King’s Speech and Harry Potter, but probably more widely known for playing host to open air rock and pop concerts for the likes of Robbie Wiliams, Oasis, Led Zepelin and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In fact it was at one of those open air concerts, to see the then very young Robbie Williams dangling upside down in front of a crowd of thousands and singing “Let Me Entertain You” and “Angels” - which took me to Knebworth for the very first time a mere 14 years ago! Probably under the influence of a few vino’s I couldn’t really remember the countryside, so when I signed up for this little jaunt I really didn’t know what I had let myself in for.
Training run on 7th November
Feeling slightly confident following my triumphant run at Royal Parks on 8th October and a mammoth 15 mile run up to the Olympic Park 2 weeks previous, I was perhaps a little cocksure of myself and thought this would be a doddle.
The day before the race we went on a little recce drive to see how long it would take us to get to the grounds from our rented farm barn. Only a 20 minute drive - perfect. From there we went to Hitch Wood famous for its bluebells in the Spring so Vinnie the dog could have a lovely Saturday afternoon walk. It was around here that I suddenly noticed mile markers along the road. No lie, there was a very long stretch, nearly 2 miles all up hill and I just thought “oh no, I’ve got to run up that tomorrow”!
So back to Sunday morning. As already mentioned it was a stunningly bright autumn morning but extremely chilly with frost on the ground. At the last minute I decided to wear two long sleeve tops - big mistake. Off we all trot to the car for our short drive to the grounds. I wanted to get there around 8.30am to give myself plenty of time to warm up, stretch, last minute loo etc. All was going well until we were two roundabouts away from entering the Knebworth grounds, approx 2 miles and should have taken about 10 mins. The traffic was totally gridlocked. All this traffic couldn’t be for the race surely? We could see the A1 from our static position and the slip road joining us was also completely at a standstill. After 20 minutes of only shuffling a few feet I de-robbed my winter coat, said farewell to Mr P and Vinnie the dog and got out the car to join fellow runners walking along the busy road to get to our start line. So with a 2 mile warm up walk I had a nice little chat with a local who couldn’t believe the chaos this race was creating. The one benefit of a traffic jam was when I finally got to the race village the queue’s for the loo weren’t that bad - silver lining and all that! At 9.25am I go to my start position and just after 9.30am the race was on.
The Route
The first couple of miles was within the grounds with a nice downhill incline to start. It is always nice when supporters cheer you on but when you have only literally started and someone shouts out “well done, keep going” you think, give us a chance it has just started. Then there is always that one person who thinks they are really funny by saying “Nearly there” when you haven’t even ran a mile!
Waving at Vinnie and Mr P.!
After 2 miles we exit the grounds and hit the narrow Hertfordshire country lanes. Passing a fabulous looking pub and thinking we need to check that out later, I was struggling to find my stride. The pack had started to thin out slightly and my pace quickened but my legs just felt really heavy. OK, I thought to myself, this is going to take to a least mile 4 to get going. It’s cold and your body is not enjoying this. I was also struggling to keep my breathing under control and instead of breathing through my nose and out through my mouth, I was breathing in and out through my mouth making me extremely thirsty. Right, I thought, at mile 3.5 there is a water station, I’ll grab a bottle and then I can sort this breathing out correctly. I grabbed a bottle at the water station but the water was so cold I’m amazed it hadn’t turned to ice. Drinking ice cold water and running was just making me burp and hiccup and didn’t help the breathing. It made it worse. Despite this I held on to the water hoping it would start to warm up. Now I knew from our recce trip the previous day that from mile 4 the road gets a bit hilly. My legs still didn’t feel great and now I had the added discomfort of overheating as I stupidly put two tops on. I carried on, up and down those blasted hills but by mile 7 pulled over to take layer number 2 off. I just couldn’t handle it any more. Ditching the freezing cold water bottle I decided to swing some of my energy drink instead which I was hoping would finally get those legs going. On I go, and the rolling hills just do not stop. Despite the hills, the views were stunning and I seriously thought about just stopping and taking some pictures to share with your all. Miles and miles of rolling countryside with that undoubtedly fresh countryside smell - cow sh*t! Mmmm, just breath that in, I don’t get that in London.
Running to the finish line
As I passed mile 10 I peeked at my watch. I had given up on watching what pace I was doing miles ago as downhill I was running super fast and then uphill super slow so trying to work out an average was far too complicated. But I was just curious to see how long I’d been on the road. When I ran Richmond Park back in June, which was a 10 mile race with numerous hills, I finished in 88 minutes and was pretty chuffed. So when I peered down at my watch and it said 80 minutes at mile 10, I thought, either the mile markers are all wrong or I’m going faster than I thought. Just after mile 11 we had a heavenly downhill stretch and I really went for it here, trying to gain back some valuable time I lost on all those up hills. By mile 12 we are back at Old Knebworth and I decided to put my second layer back on so finishing photo's will show my race number. Finally back in the grounds and then we have another blasted hill. The last incline before the finish line. I mean seriously, who wants to run uphill after running 12 sodding miles! So up I go and then just near the top I notice a familiar little dog in his cosy winter jumper together with Mr P. I shout and wave at them and Vinnie whimpers and barks as I run past. And then I see the clock and realise I’m going to beat my Royal Parks time, so with one last push I run over the finishing line. My official chip time was 01:51:01, shaving 1 minute 54 seconds off my personal best time. 2069 people completed the Hertfordshire Half Marathon and I'm glad to say I completed within the top 10% of female runners.
And over the line
Despite achieving a good time, I didn’t feel I ran particularly well. Whereas the last race everything seemed to come together, on this occasion I just never felt I found my stride. Every mile was a bit of a struggle and I really had to keep my inner mantra going “I can do this, I can do this!”. And usually after a good run my endorphins kick in and make me extremely happy but on this occasion they obviously decided to pack their bags and go to sunny climes as they were nowhere to be found. In fact, I felt pretty low.
The medal
So what have I learnt from this race.
Don’t be over confident - having nerves is actually good for you.
Don’t over compensate for cold weather - I get seriously hot whilst running.
But most importantly
Don’t beat yourself up over a run that didn’t go to plan.
My legs felt heavy and I just couldn’t find that comfortable stride but I carried on and somehow, still beat my previous time. So endorphins, you go on your holiday because as I’m writing this, I’m saying to myself "Well Done"!
In front of Knebworth House with Vinnie the dog
Robbie Williams, Let Me Entertain You, Live at Knebworth 2003
