Fastest Lady at 53 Years Old!!

Bangor Half Marathon (to start or not?)

On an easy long run in October last year I got ‘caught up’ in the Bangor half marathon and chatted with a few of the runners.

Fast forward to August this year and a friend was looking for a challenge, so we both entered the event with the aim being to have fun……….

Unfortunately my friend picked up an injury so wasn’t able to run and having competed in Bilbao myself and then only run twice while away I was most definitely unsure about starting, I also hadn’t done a ‘road race’ for over 15 years and the half distance had always been my nemesis.

Back in the UK 3.5 weeks post Bilbao and I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to race, but a set of 2km intervals reminded me that I still had pace so after some gentle reinforcement from Paul and my husband I started to plan for it with Paul saying ‘no time pressures, you’ve not trained so don’t expect a PB’ it was game on, and as the date was the anniversary of my Dad’s death I decided to do it for him xx

Arrived to a very wet Bangor, nice to have a sociable 10am start despite the rain. We watched the kiddies fun run, then I remembered just how intimidating I find other athletes, they all looked fitter and faster than I felt – this is why I stopped doing road races.

Simon wanted to get to the 1km mark as he could then maximise how many times he saw me so off he went and I moved into the start pen, I hadn’t really thought about it, but was close to the front…….there were 10km runners too and hopefully Simon could tell the difference between the numbers – he is colour blind!

Start gun went and I desperately tried to control myself, Pauls words ringing in my ears I tried to settle at 8 min miles (remember some of these guys are only doing 10km!) – nope 7:16 for the first mile! Kept telling myself to calm the f#* down but after Simon telling me I was third, then overtaking into 2nd I thought – just go for it and if you blow up it’s not your A race………

As most of the route is my regular long run I knew we had about 3 miles of uphill to do and thinking that the first female was a long way ahead of me I settled into a rhythm and tried to stay with a couple of other runners but gently pulled ahead. As we crossed the road towards the final part of the long uphill I saw the first lady and I suddenly realised I could probably pass her, but if I did I needed to try and put some distance between us as we had about 2 miles of downhill for her to catch me on…… so I passed about halfway up the final hill and pushed to get ahead, then accelerated off the turn around at the top………and it worked! I kept checking over my shoulder but couldn’t see anyone so kept pushing.

We then hit a left turn and unfamiliar territory – heading towards Penrhyn Castle and it was up and downhill (felt more up than down), but had another section where I could clearly see if anyone was close to me, and it was still a no, I just had to not slow too much (or they had to slow more?). As we left the castle grounds I knew it was pretty much downhill for the final 2.5 miles, additionally Simon had told me I had 35 seconds on the 2nd placed lady – but it was now starting to really hurt.

A final cheeky (and pointless!) left turn uphill for 50m (???) and my final chance to see if anyone was close - and still no – time to finish this with just over a mile to go I knew it would need to be a serious fast finish to overtake me.

As I finished I was in total disbelief but very happy, despite having to step back to take the finish tape as they forgot to hold it out for me 🤷‍♀️

My pace did slow in the last 4 miles, but I still finished 45 seconds ahead of second place and nearly 13 minutes ahead of the next lady in my age group. It has taken a while for the win to sink in, how does a 53 year old beat runners half her age? I know – consistent, progress focussed training (and maybe a bit of rest and relaxation?) Did find it amusing that the partner of the second lady asked my husband if I was going to run the Conway half marathon……….um no!

Biggest surprise was having missed the awards ceremony as I didn’t check it in the website (not expecting such a good result) to receive a lovely hoody and cheque for £75 in the post less than a week later – happy days!