So…the morning of my first HM has come and gone. Throughout the entire race, my thoughts progressed from “I just want a sub-3 h” to “3.5 hours is okay too” to “fine, cutting it close to 4 hours is acceptable too, just listen to your body” to “you know what, I don’t care if I exceed four hours, as long as I finish it and get home”. The cutoff time was 4 hours, and I finished at 3 hours 59 minutes (lmao). According to Garmin Connect, I ran 59 minutes and walked 2 h 59 minutes and the total distance was 21.42km (maybe the additional distance was me weaving?). Here’s how things went:
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Pre-Race & Accessories:
– The night before, I packed my Salomon Active Skin 4 vest with:
+ plain water in one bladder (500ml)
+ 100 plus in the other bladder (500ml)
+ four SiS energy gels (3 flavours. I thought of throwing in another flavour, but ultimately decided it would be tempting fate)
+ phone in zippered pocket
– I wore my Garmin Forerunner 55 watch. It’s been my faithful running companion over the years and crossed various milestones with me – my first 5k, first 10k, and now first HM. You could say I’m pretty attached to it. I never run without it because:
+ It alerts me every time my heart rate goes over 175 bpm. The only time I went “PR or ER” during a race was the worst I had ever felt while running (it was over 200 bpm and I couldn’t breathe even when I had slowed to a walk. It was legitimately terrifying). For now, 160 – 170 bpm = keep on running, >175 bpm = coast to a walk, >180 bpm = danger zone, abort mission.
+ It has haptic & sound alerts for walk/run intervals. I Galloway all my runs, so the interval alerts help to keep my pace structured. Just set the intervals, run when the watch says run, and walk when it says walk. No counting on fingers or checking my watch every 30 seconds needed. (During the HM I didn’t strictly adhere to the intervals, but TBF it was an unprecedented distance and I was completely gassed)
– I started carb-loading 3 days before the event. The day before the run, I ate pastas (yes, plural…Through the lens of retrospective wisdom I see now that it wasn’t such a good idea) and a shepherd’s pie (which I threw up in my mouth at some point during the run).
– I only slept about 2+ hours before the event. I was so nervous, I only fell asleep at 12am despite crawling into bed at 10.30pm. I then woke up at 2am again in bed and couldn’t get back to sleep. I eventually got out of bed at 4.40am to get dressed, warm up, eat something, listen to some music, and freshen up. It sucked to be so sleep-deprived, but on the plus side, the next time I run one, I won’t have the same pre-race anxiety keeping me up all night since it’s no longer the daunting, faceless behemoth of a first HM.
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Things that helped:
- I slathered generous amounts of vaseline on the back of my thighs before starting. No chafing, not even by the end of the race. It was a last minute tip I picked up from running reddit.
- I ate 3 gels, one at the 30 min mark, one at 45 mins, and the third one maybe an hour after that. I didn’t want to wait until I bonked/hit the wall before taking one.
- My hydration vest. Without it, I definitely would not have made it to the finish line just relying on the water stations alone. Once I ran out of my own supply of water, it felt torturous to keep going with no way of knowing how long it would be before seeing the next water station. I wish I had done more training runs with the vest to a) get used to the additional load and b) figure out how to pace my drinking so that I don’t run out of water at the worst possible time.
- Not going out too hard in the beginning. I was the first one to go from running to walking, while everyone else was still running. I knew I wasn’t on the same level as the other seasoned runners, so I knew better than to force myself to keep up with their pacing. And, sure, the wheels were already falling off by Km 7, but that’s only because I wasn’t fit enough to begin with.
Here’s where I messed up:
- I didn’t train enough. Prior to this, my longest distance was 12k. I genuinely didn’t have the energy to do long runs approaching 16k or more on Sundays, but even then, there’s nobody but myself to blame for being unprepared.
Unsurprisingly, cardio was the limiting factor in the first few Kms – after that, it was my feet that were the problem. My thighs and calves were fine the entire time while out on the road, but my feet were in agony and I started limp-walking after Km 12. All the other walkers continued to pass me and eventually disappeared from sight. - Not using enough sunscreen. I didn’t slap on nearly enough and I didn’t put any on my face. Being baked in the sun definitely made things even more uncomfortable than they already were. My face still feels tender from the sunburn. I also started shivering and getting chills as it was getting really hot during the last few Kms with the sun beating down on me. Obviously, that’s not good. I don’t think it’s hyponatremia because I was downing isotonic drinks like I was paid to do it and taking isotonic gels, so I’m thinking it was some sort of heat exhaustion. Even after I got home, I was still cold and chilly for the rest of the day. Going back to mistake #1, if I had trained more, I wouldn’t have taken so long running and spent so much time under the hot sun.
- Sleeping only 2 hours the night before a morning race. See points above.
After getting home, I slept for 2 hours straight with my hair still wet from the shower, then ate lunch, and then brought my bunnies to the vet for a scheduled checkup in the afternoon. Bunbun got mad about it and flipped the bowl of apple & hay treats we put inside the carrier with them.
Below: them in their carrier (before someone unceremoniously tossed the bowl)
I’m still limping everywhere I go (thank god for my soft bunny-eared bedroom slippers), and I still feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I’ve been feeling feverish, lethargic, and weak (not just physically but mentally as well). My mom is so nice, she bought me a little slice of cake from my favourite bakery afterwards. After the vet trip, I continued lying in bed/sleeping well until bedtime.
Laying in bed I thought about how someone a few feet ahead of me had ducked out of the route to detour to a convenience shop, buy some snacks, rejoin the race behind me, overtake me, and then finish 20 minutes earlier, like the punchline to some kind of joke. I was taller than most of the others who were walking the rest of the way, and therefore have a longer stride length, all else being equal. Just how slow was I going that they out-walked me to the point I was basically on my own in the last few Kms? I suspect the orthopaedic shoe inserts I slipped inside my shoes before heading out were more of a liability than a help; they were probably the reason my feet hurt so much. I think they provide relief for shorter distances like when travelling or walking around huge malls and the like, but definitely not for anything more than a few km.
But, with all that said, at least I made it under the cutoff time, even if you have to scroll down to the bottom of the results page to find my name. January 2025 me wouldn’t have believed that August 2025 me would sign up for, and finish, a half. I got to simultaneously achieve 3 PBs in one day (fastest 5K, first HM time, and longest run). Plus, I finally get to tell people I did a half marathon!