On the 12th March, I raced the Stafford Half Marathon as part of my build-up towards the 2023 Boston Marathon which was 4 weeks later. This was my second race of the year coming 5 weeks after I set a new 5 mile PB at the Alsager 5.

My original target for the Stafford half was to go for a sub 1:20 which would have been 4:35 faster than my half marathon PB set at The Big Half 2020. I had to reset that goal after testing positive for COVID the evening after the Alsager 5. Although now negative and 5 weeks on, I had struggled with running at pace and breathing was tough in the weeks leading up to Stafford.

I had managed to do a few decent faster sessions in the week of the race which gave me a little confidence that I could push the pace on race day.

This was my first time running the Stafford Half, although I raced the Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire in 2018, 2021 and 2022 that was over a different route and only the first half a mile of the Stafford Half covered familiar ground.

There are a few hills on this course and despite the weather looking nice and sunny in the photos, it was quite breezy.

Race bib pickup in the park was really quick and hassle-free, and the bag drop was straightforward despite me forgetting to take my drink bottle with me. Thankfully the girls in the tent were helpful enough to pass this over to me.

I did a rushed 1 mile warm-up pre-race and got in the sub 1:30 area with a couple of minutes to spare. Not ideal prep but in the end, that rush was needless as they had an issue with the race timing which meant we had a 10 minute delay. No biggie.

Mile 1 – 7: 6:11, 6:02, 6:04, 6:09, 6:21, 6:10, 6:28

My goal pace was 6:10/mi to come in just under 1:21 with the hope of pushing on a little towards the end if I felt good. To be honest, that was definitely a hope rather than any expectation of feeling good 10 or 11 miles in.

I went off on target in the first mile, running that familiar half a mile from the Ironman 70.3 route and thankfully no run up to Stafford Castle!

The first 4 miles went by well and I was feeling good, to be expected only running 4 miles at half marathon pace but a good start nevertheless. The fifth mile had the first serious hill which can be seen by the drop in my mile splits. I was happy only dropping 11 seconds over goal pace.

I got back on target in mile 6 and although mile 7 shows 18 seconds over target, this was down to a hill in the last part of the mile slowing the pace.

Seven miles in and I was quite pleased with how it was going so far. I was aware there was still a long way to go and already knew that I wouldn’t be picking up the pace towards the end of this one. The route is a counter-clockwise loop of Stafford, so far we had a crosswind and tailwind. That meant the last stretch (which turned out to be 3 miles) would be into a headwind.

Mile 8 – 13.1: 6:23, 6:29, 6:48, 6:28, 6:22, 6:18, 5:46

The pace on mile 8 started off target due to the hill at the end of mile 7 but just those two hills were already making themselves felt in the legs. Mile 9 was 19 secs off target pace for no reason other than the legs struggling to push through the lumpy last few miles.

Mile 10 was the biggest of the hills, which ran for the majority of that mile, it was steep but it felt relentless. From around the sixth mile until now I had been caught in no man’s land running by myself. There were 4 guys around 10-15secs up the road from me and I was aware that there was nobody close by behind me but I wasn’t going to turn around and check. The focus had been on closing that gap on those up front.

This hill, albeit my slowest mile, was where I closed that gap and had a decision to make. Do I stick with the group and use them as shelter through the headwind of the last 3 miles or push through and see if they come with me.

I went with the latter, I ran onto the back of the pack and they kind of parted to let me through. I knew right then that they weren’t going to be going with me so I maintained my pace and went ahead, that was the last I saw of them.

Thankfully, mile 11 was a decent downhill but also came with that headwind so I didn’t pick up that much time, in fact, I was still over goal pace. I was struggling coming off the back of the 1 mile climb and the motivation of chasing a group down was now in the rearview. There wasn’t anyone in sight ahead of me either.

Mile 12 was mostly flat maybe a net downhill but it felt good knowing that there was only 1 more mile to go after this one. I could hear someone closing up fast behind me, someone who was doing what I wanted to in picking up the pace at the end. I was done and content with holding a mid-6-minute mile pace. I could see someone up front now which did spur me on, I figured if I pass them and the guy behind me passes me then I am still in the same position.

I caught the guy in front around the same time the guy behind me caught me. Hats off to this guy though, he was super motivating telling us to tuck in behind him and the three of us could run in together.

I held on to his heels until the last quarter mile through the park where he dropped me, the other guy dropped back pretty quickly. Having someone to follow and push me on was such a massive help in those last 2 miles, they were my two fastest miles since the sixth mile.

As we ran through the park and the crowds grew I took a look at my watch and knew I was on for a decent PB, not the sub 1:20 I had been aiming for when I signed up for this race but running a PB is always a good day.

Spurred on by the crowd and again seeing someone struggling in front of me as I passed 13 miles, I knew if I pushed it a little now I could pass them before the finish.

Sprinting through that last 0.1 mile, well I say sprinting, it felt like that but the 5:46/mi split shows it was barely 5k pace. I caught that guy and also passed another, so despite struggling to hold goal pace and not being able to pick it up towards the end, I had gained 6 places in the second half.

I crossed the line in 1:22.49 coming in under my previous PB time by 1:46.

Brief roundup:

I really enjoyed the Stafford Half Marathon and will definitely come back in the future. It isn’t the flattest or fastest of courses. The hills are hard work but on the flip side, there are some downhills, the wind didn’t help today but at least it was dry and I did actually feel a bit too hot which feels wrong saying that after all the cold and wet weather we had in March.

To run a PB on a not-so-PB-friendly course in windy conditions in the middle of a marathon training block and at the end of a heavy week of marathon training was really pleasing. Even more so with it coming 5 weeks after picking up COVID and initially struggling to get back to full training pretty much until this week.

I have more or less halved the gap between my old PB and my goal of sub 1:20 so it is a big step forward, on a flatter course with less wind and a decent taper into race day I feel I could give that 1:19.59 a really good crack.

For now, I am happy to scrub out my longest-lasting PB and update it with 1:22.49 and focus on the last 4 weeks of training into the Boston Marathon… another day of hills and downhills, hopefully, another PB day as well.