St Neots Half Marathon, 20 Nov 2022

I entered the St Neots Half in September after a suggestion from Tim (who was also running it). Coming out of the European Duathlon Champs on a high, I was optimistic as to what time I could do on this renowned PB setting course. However as previously mentioned, I spent several weeks in late September/early October unwell with a nasty respiratory viral illness which put a halt to my half marathon build up. Nonetheless once recovered I had a few weeks of solid training and felt optimistic going into the race.

It was a chilly November morning, but the sun made an appearance just in time for the race start. The course was predominantly closed road/quiet gently rolling country lanes. There was a great turn out of local spectators and the field was considerably larger than I expected - obviously a popular race!

I set off at a comfortable pace- not allowing myself to head off far too fast (as I have done in many a road race previously!). I settled into a good rhythm and was surprised to find myself in front of the 1:30 pacers. I debated whether I should drop back and try and stick with them throughout, however I felt like I could keep going ahead of them and would just chance it and see what happened! I continued to feel really strong (on track for a 1:28) until around mile 9. Preceding this was a predominantly uphill section which really sapped the energy out of my legs. We reached the final water section that I planned to have a drink at so I gulped down some more gel had some good swigs of water and dug deep. The next 2 miles were tough and I watched the 1:30 pacing group gradually go past me. I was frustrated as it was all going so well up to that point. However, over the last two miles my legs got some life back and I managed to pick it up again, gradually catching up with the 1:30 group. It was tough but some great mental strength kept me charging forwards towards that finish line, finishing off the race with a sprint finish to make it in 1hr 29mins 44 secs!

I was 6th senior female and 14th lady overall (out of 329). However, the most pleasing part was officially cracking the 1:30 barrier- a new PB! Despite the wobble going into the last quarter of the race, it was one of my best ever executed road races.

It was great to see Tim finishing his first half marathon race and we had some great post-race pizza recovery afterwards! No more racing until the New Year for me but I look forward to what these legs can do as I build towards the London Marathon in April!

Megan Powell