Rambouillet Half Marathon

Saw Jean-François, my physio, yesterday for another check up on the injury and to see whether the race at Rambouillet was still on the cards or not. I hadn't run since Tuesday and I was beginning to feel better, if a little stiff around the top of the thigh and the right buttock. After the session with Jean-François, I was feeling a lot better and we were able to pinpoint the muscle pain and he gave me some appropriate exercises to stretch these. Basically, the problem is with the sacro iliac joint , where the back joins the pelvis. The stretching exercises ease the pain and when I left the clinic, I was feeling better than I had done for several days. Based on this, I thought that I would give the semi a go and run with Nick who was aiming to go under 1:30 for the first time.

The weather was pretty lousy when we arrived at Rambouillet with a full car load: Laurence, Nick, Anne, Christèle and Jeff. We headed as quickly as possible to the changing rooms to pick up our numbers, get ready and shelter from the drizzle that was starting to fall. We met Régis, Fabrice and other runners from St Germain who I normally train with. They had picked up my number to give to another as they thought I wouldn't be running - sorry guys. Their aim was to go under 1:25 which would have been my objectives under better circumstances. As we changed Paul arrived and so Nick, Paul and I lined up together at the start with the intention of running together and getting everyone under 1:30. The back was playing up and I'd done some stretches after a short warm-up in order to relieve the tension in the muscles. This seemed to do the trick and there was only a slight discomfort.

The gun went, I started my watch and we were off. It took us about 20 seconds to cross the start line and then we headed off downhill into Rambouillet town centre at a leisurely pace. I say leisurely but we were probably running at around 4:15 pace but compared to the usual frantic starts for 10km races, this felt so comfortable. I concentrated from the start on my posture and ensuring that my back was going to be able to hold up all of the way round. The greatest fear was that I would reach the 10km mark and have to pull out of the race. I definitely didn't fancy a 10km walk back into town.

Paul, Nick and I ran together and I was able to chat a little as we ran. The pace was steady at around 4:08 per km until the fourth kilometre when we had to pull uphill out of town. At this point, the pace slowed to 4:29 but I pushed the pace at the top of the hill to make sure that we got back onto target. So what was the target though ? Actually, I had set the virtual partner to 4:12 per km which was slightly faster (one minute over the whole course) than the 1:30 objective. We were well on schedule and running well. This carried on over the next few kilometres until the 7th kilometre when I looked behind and saw that we had dropped Paul. He had been keeping up with us to begin with, but the pace was just out of his comfort zone and he had dropped back. Actually, I have doubts about the pace and think that this may have just been an excuse to run with a nice leggy blonde that we had overtaken a kilometre earlier. Anyway, Nick and I were on our own now.

The route through the Rambouillet forest was lovely and some photos of the course can be seen on the official website. The path wound through the forest and was a single track road, closed to traffic. We hit the 10km mark in 42:16, so spot on schedule and we began picking up and overtaking a number of runners from here on to the finish. The pace was very steady at just below 4:10 per km and I was really pleased with my condition as I knew that I had plenty of energy in reserve. The pace was comfortable for me and I was feeling strong. When we left the forest after 12.5 km we were having to run head on into the wind. I pushed the pace again here, letting Nick run behind me, worried that the wind would slow us down. In fact, I forced the pace too much as we ran this kilometre in 4:05, so as soon as we turned the bend around the roundabout, I eased slightly and dropped back to 4:10 pace again.

We carried on like this for the remainder of the course, counting down the kilometres to the end. The pain in my back and thigh was present but not unbearable. Another stretch through the forest and past some fisherman at the pond before a slower section where we had to pull up another incline before hitting the outskirts of Rambouillet. We could smell the finish now and we were picking off runners regularly. A sprint at the end and we crossed the line together in 1:28:31 - a new PB for Nick. Great run and most comfortable.

Having crossed the finish line the comfort faded instantly and I began to limp. The pain was back with a vengeance ! We got out of the steady rain that was now falling and I did some stretches in the changing area to find some relief. A couple of hot drinks later, a chat with Paul who finished in 1:30:45 and we went back outside to face the elements and watch Laurence and Anne arrive.

They had run very steadily too. Their aim was to run marathon pace around the course and they crossed the line in 1:56:58 still chatting easily as they went passed. Christèle later confirmed that they hadn't stopped chatting all of the way round which confirms my belief that they will both achieve their marathon objective of under 4 hours in a month's time.

The rest of the gang (Fabrice, Régis and Mireille) all finished within spitting distance of each other around 1:25. Mireille won the first female vet prize in 1:24:30 - good performance.

Good race, great course, shame about the weather but we shall be back next year.