Thank you everyone - most of yesterday was spent travelling back from Inverness fo York so at least got a lot of time sitting down!
Was thinking about what’s helped me improve - this may be a little long…..
Previous half marathon was in August 2021. I’d been running on and off for about 12 years or so but restarted in June 2020 when I realised I was much heavier than I wanted to be and combined diet and exercise. Entered the London Landmarks half marathon which got put back from April to August. Did train but not consistently enough and the day itself was hot and I did a lot of walking which ended up with a2 hour 46 time. Was a bit disillusioned but kept on going especially parkruns as DD was volunteering for DofE and I felt I might as well run as I was taking her each Saturday. My parkruns were between about 33 and 35 min. I’d also started HRT in May 2021.
Did the York 10 mile in October which was hard work but managed under 2 hours with some running and walking. Kept on pottering along in 2022 then got Covid in March and running got worse. Finding it very hard.
Decided to enter the York 10k at the beginning of August. Told myself I would run every step even if I was slower than I’d like. Did it in just under 1 hour 15 min and ran every step. This started revitalising me. Entered the York 10 mile again in October and improved my time by about 6 minutes plus no walking. Improved parkrun time to just over 30 minutes! Then in November got faster - just over 29 minutes. Gradually I was getting a little faster - not all the time but quite often.
Enteres some local races in 2023 and enjoyed doing them and was getting faster.
in July I used a flexible 10 week plan to improve my 5k time and in October did
parkrun in just exactly 28 minutes which was a new PB with the old one having stood since November 2013 my very first parkrun. Did the York 10 mile again and this time ran all the way and took 15 minutes off my time to 1 hour 36. Then in December did a 10k race in just under an hour. I also ran every day from early November.
Decided to try a half marathon training plan and stick to it - I used one on the Nike running Club App and found I enjoyed it and was getting faster.
Did another 10 mile race in February and was just about faster than October but this was a more undulating course so was more pleased.
Managed to reduce my parkrun Pb again to just below 28 minutes the day before the 10 mile race without really putting as much effort in as I could so knew there was more left.
Came to the half marathon and I believed in myself. Wasn’t sure how fast I could go but was confident of breaking 2:30, hopefully 2:15 and anything under 2:10 a bonus.
Up to 10k really good including some hills - under 60 min. Got harder work up to 10 miles with the odd bit of walking. From about 18 km much harder work - the furthest I’d gone in training was 10 miles. There was a 20km run scheduled but as I had the 10 mile race in February that week I didn’t do the longer run. I think I panicked a bit and so there was more walking. Overall pace per km slowed by about 25 seconds per km. So glad to get to the track with about 300m to go although the pictures of me are not flattering 😂. And finishing it in 2hours 9 min was great.
So overall I’ve stayed consistent, I’ve kept on going when I’ve got a bit slower. I’ve lost some weight which helps me with my pace and I’ve believed I could do it. And I wear very bright running clothes which I love doing and helps me keep running.
Im having a bit of a cut down until April (although still doing parkrun and probably running every day as it helps with my mental health) and then going to try and improve my 5k time again. Not sure what the rest of my race plans are but would love to break 2 hours for a half marathon and comfortably break 60 min ie maybe about 57 for 10k. And will keep on going until I don’t enjoy it any more 😃 I love that at 48 I’m running the best I’ve ever run.