A cold and wet first half marathon

It was a long time ago that I was so excited towards a match. It was going to happen, my first half marathon.

15 minutes before the start I stood in the start-area. It began to rain a little bit. I like a little bit of rain, but not too much… Unfortunately the rain was getting really heavy after I thought that :p. So I started the race with soaked clothes, although it stopped raining.

The first kilometres where very nice. The sound of all those shoes hitting the road… And a lot of people cheering on the side! The first five went in 20:48. The roads where really wide and there where always some people to group with. 10km in 41:23. At this time the maths starts. I’m halfway, what can I lose in the second part? 15km in 1:02:07. Only 5 seconds behind my best 15km time! At this point the rain started to pour again. I had to let go some people and I felt the cold in my whole body. I noticed that my pace of breathing and my heart rate where really to high. Thankfully, the last kilometres where exciting. All those people in small streets with a lot of bars. The atmosphere was very good. 20km in 1:23:38. I saw I was going to make in my target of 1,5 hours: 1:28:03!

The organization was really good, especially with 6808 opponents on only the half marathon ( I was 222th :)). In comparison to Heerlen where they can’t organize a match for not even 10 % of that. To come back on that, I posted a topic on CnR to see what others thought about it. A couple of people reacted and agreed that it is quite strange there…

I don’t know my next match yet. Perhaps the ‘ENCI bergloop’ on the 8th of November, but that’s the day after… Rowwen Hèze :p