Richmond Half Marathon

Race Report – Simon Cowdery

If there was ever a time to conquer Mark Twain’s saying “Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”, now was that time.  To not exactly conquer but merely finish the Richmond RunFest Half Marathon would be a great achievement.

While, yes,  both Daniela and I have run numerous halves in the past, this was our first race in over 12 months. Both of us have never entered a race with such little preparation time and kilometres under the belt due to injuries with “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt” ringing deeply in our minds.

This was my 3rd and Daniela’s 7th time running the prestigious Richmond Half marathon starting in the iconic Kew gardens. Dark clouds hung menacing in the distance as we battled the usual long toilet cues for the last wee or number 2 and then we said bugger this , lets find a tree. ( not for the number 2 though, we were ok)

Being back in the fray of watching runners completing their unique warm ups, chatting about paces, what races they have done, shoes they were wearing, family and friends providing the last well wishes and encouragement,  brought back a sudden sense of familiarity, calmness and welcome nervousness as we entered the line up to the starting pens.

Our race plan, yes we had a race plan, was simple,  go out slow, particularly as our longest long run in the past 6 months had only been 14km and to see what happens on the day. A back up plan was to take a detour and maybe , just maybe,  do a sneaky and pull out at the 10km race which started at the same time. How that would play out in our minds was very much undecided and would be a very much a spur of the moment decision and one that we never really got a chance to entertain.

As we patiently waited,  ticking away the seconds and minutes, that always seems an eternity, there was suddenly “Movement at the station, for the word had passed around “ while not as Bajo Paterson famously quoted and ended with “ That the colt from Old Regret had got away, and had joined the wild bush horses, he was worth a thousand pound”  no sir,  it was “game time” as the surge of runners push forth eager to get underway.

Wave one , bang, or rather Katie Perry belting out “Roar”  they were out and gone,  Wave two,  the 10 km runners soon followed, Wave 3’s time approached, hmm “Come on wave 3 move would you”. At which time I checked my watch, mmm, I have paid for a late check out, we need to getting going , so Dani said “Lets go”  and before I knew it she was under the tape faster than Usain Bolt. I soon followed to join the 1:45 runners  that suddenly started moving and the familiar sounds of beep, beep, beep went as we crossed the start line.

The course was slightly different this year due to works on the foot path running alongside the  Thames river which entailed a few extra laps through the beautiful Kew Gardens. We meander along, around and through the gardens, “Like a river cuts through rock, not because of power but through persistence”  keeping a close eye on our pace.  We pasted the soon to be refurbished 1848 Palm House, the giant red oaks, the great Pagoda,  the water lilies in the lake slowly withering, making the most of the last of the autumnal  sun, the well wishes and crowds,  as we made our exit out of gates and onto Kew Rd. 7.5km done 13.5km to go.

This short 2.5km section or sector 2 as we had divided up the course, was along a footpath / bike path parallel to Kew Road heading down to the river Thames.

While one might seem it should be an easy sector, as we were still feeling good and on pace, it was a little unnerving under foot. Tree roots pushing up footpaths to mini Himalayan proportions, push chairs, the general public, now turned into sudden well wishes taking up the entire footpath, bicycles and the dreaded… dog poo to content with.

Having successfully navigated, with out any injuries , we the soon arrived at “D” day or the 10 km decision time.
“Half Marathon keep left, 10km go right “ barked the Marshal,  come drill sergeant that seem to come out straight out of the movie Platoon.  Dare we challenge this man, as he glared at us thinking, Marinova and Cowdery, don’t even think about it. Obediently we kept left, there was no turning back. 

Due to recent rain and the thousands of marathon and half marathon runners before us, a slippery, muddy little section on grass and dirt paths followed , leading us down to the Thames River coming out under Twickenham Bridge. 
Now on firmer ground we could settle into a more comfortable pace, although one had to mindful,  as the fastest of the fastest runners were on the return already. The two way runner traffic,  combined with dogs on leads, kids on bikes , I am still undecided as to which is one more unpredictable and likely to cause an injury , one had to be on full alert.  The half way point ticked off our watches, which was big relief, now to settle in for the last half.  

We took a left after about 2km running along side the Thames near Petersham Nursery.  This section cut through Ham Lands to pick up the river trail near Teddington and was mix of unmade paths, park land, fields before finally joining up with the footpath on Riverside Drive and down the river at the 15km point. 

The next 5km followed the Thames River back to Twickenham Bridge where we could settle in to good rhythm and pace and even managed to increase our tempo somewhat.

We alternated setting the pace between us and even managed to have a small pack of runners behind us.  Chatting was limited now as we both focused on our legs and breathing, me wondering if we had gone out too quick and I would die in the arse the last 2 to 3 kms.  Both of us questioning/ cursing why did we go to the gym and do a class on Saturday morning, luckily , the legs and mind stayed strong.

At 18km the crowds and well wishes returned as we closed in on Richmond again that provided a much need boost to the energy reserves. 20km done , 1 to go as we approached Twickenham Bridge and took a shape right, across a little bridge for the final push to the finish line.

This was grassy section with people lined up either side cheering, waving, encouraging everyone to the finish line at Old Deer Park. We mustered up one last push for the final 100m and crossed the finish line which was a big relief and even managed too just sneak in under 2 hours at 1:58:47 for Daniela and 1:58.48 for me. 

All in all the Richmond Half marathon is great race which is well organised, plenty of water stations, has a great medal, T shirt and opportunity to run through Kew Gardens. 

We have been struggling with our running for the past 18 months since Paris marathon, with motivation and injuries being the big one. So this race was nice to just run and not focus too much on time as we both had questioned if we would enter a race again.   But as they say, “It ain’t over, till it’s over.  Now for Royal Parks in 4 weeks time.