Henley Half Marathon 12#14

On a mid October morning we were heading into uncharted territory. Henley looked beautiful as we drove over the bridge at the river Thames into the town despite the traffic jam that all the runners had caused by descending this small area.

The start was at the Henley rugby club and was in the middle of a field. The whole event was run by the local rotary club and had a budget feel to it but we were up for a nice morning run and the weather was again being very kind to us it was dry and bright. Also was our last event before our New York marathon trip and we were looking for hard training run.

This week we had no other people with use we were on our own so we decided to pace it at 8:30 miles and see how things developed. What we were not expecting was a course that was very varied under foot and a hill that was one of the most challenging I’ve ever run up.

So on the gun we ran out of the field on to the road up to into Henley town. The streets where fairly well supported by the locals and we looped around the town and knocked off the first mile bang on 8:30 pace. Then not for the only time we headed over the Henley Thames Bridge and swept around to the left and down a long undulating country path for 2 miles. Then we ran through a field and got to a choke point on course this was a little frustrating at it slowed us down to a walk.

We then picked up the pace and joined the Thames tow path at mile 4 this part of the course was mostly single file and I we were held up a bit by slower runner’s in front of us. Despite this the scenery was great there were lots of rowers on the river and watching and listening to them was a welcome distraction It also reminded me of Kelly she is a amazing rower. The serene tow path led us back to the Henley Bridge and over it again and at mile 7 we were heading though to the other side of the town. Our pace was still a consistent 8:30 and it felt quite comfortable but that would all change! We had heard prior to the race that there was some kind of hill around mile 8 but hadn’t really worried about it.

We turned a corner and started a steady incline up a county road about a mile in the hill was still going! I was flagging and my pace had dropped right down so decided to have a little walk to regroup. James continued and pushed on leaving me telling me “he would wait at the top” As I got into the second mile of the hill it got steeper and steeper it really was a nightmare! I got to the top exhausted ! had a look around for James but no sign it had gone on without me, I didn’t blame him I would have done the same. What goes up has to come down and the other side was just as steep and fast and you had to watch your speed because it was tough to run down.

The bottom of the hill was about 10 miles and from here it was a long straight home. I put my head down and tried to make up for some lost time on the hill and pushed my pace as much as I could.I was overtaking a few people but never saw James up ahead so  figured that he had the same idea and was pushing the final couple of miles.

The morning had gone well and it was the most varied half of the year tow paths, grass, mud all kinds of different terrain. But the overriding memory would be that hill! It was brutal maybe we will return next year to conquer it ?

James 1:46:47

Duncan 1:50:59