Having only run one other half marathon I must admit I don't have much to compare this one to but I thought I would share my experiences and opinions anyway!!
The Good:
Camaraderie
Running can be lonely especially when you are training long distances on your own in winter with limited daylight hours... however, I have been lucky enough to train on a Monday with the wonderful GoodGym (more on them soon but do visit their website!) and on a Wednesday with Fit City (again more on this to come but check it out!!). However, my long weekend runs have been by myself and a hard mental slog as I run better with a partner. With all this in mind, stood in the starting blocks on Sunday by myself I was feeling extremely nervous and lonely as my fellow GoodGymers were in different starting groups. The course (more below!) for all of its bad points did enable me to keep spotting my fellow GoodGym runners in their red tops leading to many a high five, shouts of encouragement and (as the miles ticked by) the shared grimace of pain. I honestly don't think I would have been able to remain positive if it hadn't been for these glimpses of friendly faces!
Also a huge thank you to my family who came all the way from Surrey for the 8:44am start (!) just to cheer me on!
The Finish
Now I don't do these races just for the goodie bag at the end however, it does make a huge difference to how valued you feel when you get a good one! The Nike Run To The Beat (which I did in 2012) was extremely disappointing - I was given a medal in a little plastic baggie and ushered quickly away left feeling dejected, confused and hungry. The East London Half Marathon had some amazingly positive volunteers at the end congratulating us all as we came through, handing us bunches of bananas, goodie bags, t-shirts and put our medals on us. I even received the compliment of: "You don't even look like you have broken a sweat!" despite being an obvious lie it did put a smile on my face!
The Bad:
The route
Now as soon as the route was released I knew it wasn't going to be the prettiest of routes or the easiest of routes to get through mentally. The route didn't take in the best sites of east London instead we ran down to the Bow Flyover and back...twice! The route was also two laps of a 10k route... which would have been fine a part from the fact that it also included lots of doubling back within those laps. For example we ran along the Greenway four times in total, with very few spectators and no shade... NOT a highlight of the race and extremely difficult to keep going mentally and physically.
Transport
Typically TFL let me down on Sunday. Despite West Ham Park being approx 20mins from my flat on public transport it ended up taking me over an hour. The DLR was down, the replacement bus didn't start that early (7:30am) and once I finally got to Stratford all buses were stopped from going to West Ham Park and so it was a frantic jog/walk to get to the starting blocks in time! The walk was fine... if you knew the area but some signage wouldn't have gone amiss! Also... walking back to Stratford following the race was painful to say the least!
The Downright Miserable:
I have been suffering with a painful calf muscle for the past two weeks so training has been limited. My life has been filled with stretching and resting which has been extremely frustrating. I was feeling positive and hitting PB's for each mile... until mile 8 when everything started to go downhill. From mile 8 onwards my calf pain returned... double fold! It was a battle of wills to keep going and it was only the thought that the miles would take longer if I walked that kept me running. Although this meant that I finished slower than intended it does mean that I now know I can overcome physical pain through sheer determination...!
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