On the 13th of April 2025, I finished my first Half Marathon race with a time of 1:24:56.
Yes, I know it’s now September. Yes, I know I’ve raced another Half Mara in the meantime. But I’m constantly reflecting on this race. I’ll never be able to go back to this very moment and run my very first half marathon ever again. I learned so much from it and I hope you can too. You might be a seasoned runner or a half-marathon newbie. Either way, I hope my reflections might be able to provide some guidance or entertainment for you.
Key takeaway: Get friends involved. Any goal is ten times more enjoyable when you’re working towards it with the support of your mates.
This was, by a long way, the longest race I’d ever competed in. I did a few 5K races in High School, but after that I took a long break from running. My first race was participation in the 2024 Canberra Times Fun Run 5K. Posting a time of 19:06 and coming in 7th place, I was confident that more training could get me to a sub 90-minute half mara by the time April rolled around.
Looking back, my goal was ultra ambitious. I don’t regret setting it, either. I’m a hard-core goal setter. Most of my goals don’t ever fully get achieved, so when I achieve one, it’s an exceptional feeling. Yet, I know there’s always something to improve on and my ambition is almost limitless.
Here’s what I want to work on for next time:
- Get a friend on board: Training was made quite boring and I was really frustrated particularly on race day when I had no plans on how to get there or home. I don’t have a car, and I didn’t ask any friends to take me, support me, or drop me home. I figured I could do it all myself, but totally underestimated the impact having even one supportive friend could have. I did see a couple mates on the side of the road at one point, which lifted my spirits immensely, but it was quite tough having to share my achievement with absolutely nobody.
- Go to the bathroom beforehand: As soon as I hit the 3rd kilometer I felt my bowels making moves. Not a good sign. The next 18 were a real struggle keeping everything together. Next time, I don’t care if I don’t feel like going – I need to drop my guts before I run.
- Turn up early: The bathroom situation could also have been improved if I had done this. I turned up about 40 minutes before the gun. I had to warm up (did less than 3km for a warm up), collect my bib and find my pacing group in that short time. An inadequate warm up, rushed bib placement and arriving at the very back of my group were the results. Needless to say, even an extra 10-20 minutes would have spared me this stress.
- Get a pacer: I’m glad there were pace groups in this race. Without the 1:25 pacer, I wouldn’t have cracked on to break my goal. I consider my strength in long-distance running to be the mental endurance side, so when every other runner dropped off from following the pacer from 12-13km in, I knew it was my job to stick to him the rest of the way. Having a pacer meant that I didn’t need to keep checking my watch to stay on pace during the race. I had to focus solely on following his pace, and I would hit my goal. If I can find a pacer for my next run, I’ll be latching onto him/her for sure.
The Next Race
This is a little ironic. I’ve already run another half marathon race between racing in April and writing this post in September. You can read about that one in this post.
I am, however, currently training towards potentially running in the Kosci50 at the end of September this year. I am aiming for sub 6-hours (extremely ambitious, I know). However, my uni student budget and a July injury (posterior tibialis tendonitis) has really set me back a long way in preparation for the run. I haven’t yet saved the money to enter the race, and I’ve only just worked my way back up to 20km runs, so being capable of 50 by the end of November is a bit of a stretch.
My other alternative is to pace my friend Lachie to a half-marathon at 5min/km pace. That I’m definitely capable of, and is more of a driver for me, as it means I can provide the support to a friend’s running journey which I wish I had had when starting mine.
Which goal am I going to work towards? Keep following the blog to find out!
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