Media Maratón de Miguelturra (Half Marathon)

My next milestone is the Half Marathon in Miguelturra on the 13th of November. Miguelturra is a village a few kilometers outside Ciudad Real, in the heart of the Mancha (Don Quixote territory). Why on earth have I chosen this particular Half Marathon? Simple, because my parents-in-law live in Ciudad Real.

Actually I did this race a few years ago and it was a nice route with a good atmosphere amongst the runners, not to mention a stadium finish which is always exciting. I seem to remember getting a free bottle of Valdepeñas wine, some running shorts as well as some chicken stock in the runner's goody bag. I also remember people raising their eyebrows at my then outlandish and supposedly inappropriate-for-a-90kg-half-marathon-runner footwear - the Nike Lunar Racers. Of course, they are now old hat - just wait til they see my moccasins! Thing is, last time I ran it flat out in a time a whisker over 1:30. This time, I aim to run it at "Marathon pace" which, wishfully thinking, will be just under 1:30 with, hopefully, a lot of gas still stored in the tank.

I don't like running races at any other pace than my best pace for that distance. Another thing is to plan to run half of a Marathon at Half Marathon pace but I know that it is still going to feel pretty hard going at 4:15 per kilometer, probably (hopefully) harder than it will feel in the Marathon itself. The aim is not to go as fast as I can but to conserve as much energy as I can, get a feel for running at that pace and to see how my heart rate responds to the effort.