Rambouillet Half Marathon - Yvelines

The gauntlet had been thrown. I'd declared that this year I would beat my 24 year old half-marathon personal best set in the Great North Run when I was 17. My running objectives for the year were public and declared: the half-marathon had to be run in 1:22:30.

I spoke to Tom about this last weekend and he asked me why I wasn't just trying to beat 1:24:30 as this is 15km/h or 4:00 per km over the distance. I decided that this wasn't sufficient and since the 20k in Paris last year, I knew that I was capable of beating this but a 1:22 target was more ambitious.

We arrived at the race with plenty of time and Nick, Laurence and I got ourselves ready before going out ofr a warm-up. A nasty accident happened before we even started as I put out my hand to shake hands with Bruno and Laurence rose at the same time catching my fingers directly in her left eye. I felt really bad before we'd even started and hoped that this wouldn't have any impact on Laurence's own objective of beating 1:45 in the race.

Plenty of runners from St Germain were present: Nico, Olivier, José, Bruno, Mireille, Gérald, etc. and the quality of the runners was high. I expected this as although the number of runners that can take part in the race is limited to 2000, the quality is very high and I epxected to arrive only in the top 10%, compared to 5% in a standard race.

We lined up in the first starting block, pretending to look like runners capable of running under 1:20 !! Unfortunately, there is no timing mat on the start line so only the gun result counts, meaning that plenty of runners try to start as close as possible. The gun went (on the second attempt) and we were off. I ran with Nico as I'd set the virtual partner to 3:53 per km and he agreed to stay with me at this pace. We could see Bruno and Mireille running together just ahead and we caught them up in the second kilometre to give ourselves a chance of beating Mireille over the distance.

The first kilometres were quick but I felt good in my race shoes and there was no pain from the ankle. Nico and I ran together and we overtook Bruno on the first hill at around 3 kilometres when he dropped off Mireille's pace. I couldn't keep up with her either now and she pushed on, racing another female for 2nd place. We finished the hill and turned off into the forest and I pushed again, making the most of the slight downhill. I was really happy with my pace and my sensations here: my legs were comfortable and fresh (was this due to the new Skins I was wearing ?), my ankle was fine and my pace was around 3:50 per km. At about 7km, Nico dropped just behind me and I pushed on, hoping that he wouldn't be able to follow. Mireille was still in front and showed no sign of coming back to me. I tried to tag on to a little group of runners and stayed at the back of this group until the 10km point. There was a timing mat at this point and I crossed the mat in 38:29, not bad for a 10k and faster than my last race in Houilles !

I felt good again at this point and between 10 and 12km I stretched and pushed the group a little. At 12km though, I began to tire and wondered if I could keep this speed up. I was hungry and despite the little water that I'd taken on at the feeding stations, I was losing energy and had a little stitch. It was the countdown from then on. The kilometres seemed longer and longer although my speed didn't reduce drastically. My 3:50 per km pace slowed to 4:02 by kilometre 17 and then kilometre 19 went by in 4:13. This was due to the fact that I stopped to take on water and had to negociate the slight uphill out of the forest back towards Rambouillet.

I could still see Mireille about 300m ahead but she was not coming back to me. I was just hanging on in now, praying for the finish to come into sight. I guy in a triathlete suit came past and encouraged me but I couldn't stay with him. I passed the 20km marker and with 1km to go I was encouraged and put in a last little effort. Even so, I only managed the kilometre in 3:58 and then the sprint at 3:39 pace. I crossed the line in 1:22:12 a new PB and beat Fabrice's time in Paris of 1:22:35 so I was pleased. Nico had been dropped but I hadn't caught Mireille who'd run a stormer and the best half-marathon time for a female vet in France by over 5 minutes this year !!

Gérald finished next in 1:23 then Bruno and Nico in 1:24. Nick ran a personal best in 1:26 and then I ran back to find Laurence. I figured it was going to be close when I got to her but she was looking good, not red in the face, so she'd obviously run steadily and intelligently. We turned the corner and into the last straight with 250m to go. I could see the clock hit 1:44 and told her to sprint. She said she couldn't but she picked up the pace towards the finishing line to finally cross in 1:44:56 - a new record by over 5 minutes. She was stonked.

Good race all round. Definitely back next year to do this one again.