I love, love, LOVE adding new countries to my race history! And despite my many travels to England over the years, I had yet to clock a race there (which is likely due to the fact that I’ve only really gotten in racing in the last four years or so).

I knew I was going to be in London sometime around the time of IMATS London, so it really came down to finding a race around those dates. Luckily, the Hackney Half Marathon was taking place the day after IMATS – what perfect timing!

I asked my friend Alex if he would like to run a half marathon with me while I was in town, and he was up for it! For some context on our friendship – we used to play (and raid together) in World of Warcraft about 5 or 6 six years ago. Most friendships tend to fall apart once you lose the reason for contact in the first place (and for us, that was gaming), but we still shared a few interests (running, weightlifting) that have kept us in contact on and off over the years. So I was really excited when he said he’d be happy to train for this half marathon and run it too! He’s a wonderful person, and I got a chance to meet his fiance as well (she came to cheer us on during the race)!

Unfortunately, this race was my second worst to date (my Reykjavik half is my worst to date). Luckily, we started out without it being too hot (around 12 degrees Celsius) and somewhat cloudy. As it’s been quite cold in Toronto, I haven’t been training in temperatures over 5-7 degrees really, and I suffer a *lot* when the temperature is over 15 degrees. And if it’s over 20 degrees I’m really not functioning very well. This race, sadly, started to heat up over the course of the two hours while I was running it. I finished the race feeling hot and uncomfortable, and even walked away with a sunburn if you can believe it. (Who goes to ENGLAND and gets a sunburn??? lol)

The course itself was a lovely run around the Hackney suburb. I loved seeing the different homes, streets and scenery – it was absolutely gorgeous! My major complaints stem from overcrowding of the race (I think they let too many people sign up for it given the size of the streets – there were some areas that were so crammed/crowded that it really slowed a person’s pace down) and the up and down nature of some of the streets. In looking back, it doesn’t seem my elevation gain was that much (43 meters over the course of the 21 kilometers), but it felt extreme at the time. And the last two kilometers are brutal – you’re going off and on ramps I think and it just felt murderous on the legs.

That being said, I loved the look of the course – it changed constantly and it was fun to look around and see new vistas. I also thought the organization was well done (bag drop was flawless and quick, which is so appreciated), although they could’ve used probably about 50 more port-a-potties! I do think that issue stems from there just being too many runners overall though – the queue for the toilets was absolute madness!

I have to give major thanks to the Hackney crowds though – I have NEVER seen that kind of community participation before. They were all cheering, dressing up (halfway through the race I saw a man dancing around in a devil’s outfit holding a glass of wine with a sign saying that we’d worked hard and should take a break lol!). I also saw some woman cheering us on wearing an AMAZING sequin jacket – so I yelled at her to say her jacket was INCREDIBLE! She turned to me and said “NO, YOU’RE INCREDIBLE!”. I saw so many bystanders handing out gummy candy, pieces of fruit, and water from their homes. Honestly – what a wonderful crowd. They were fun, encouraging, entertaining and HAPPY.

What surprised me about this race (and my finishing time) was that I was the MOST trained for this race than I had been for any other race I had ever done: I had completed ALL of my training runs (unheard of for me – I’m never that diligent) and I had given myself a wonderful 1.5 week taper period from my last longest run. And yet… this was an atrocious finishing time for me. I clocked in at 2:10:24 (my usual time is around 2:06). I was a bit mortified – especially since I was really happy with my physical fitness at that moment in time, and I had put in the work I thought I needed to get closer to a 2 hour half marathon.

Oh well! At the end of the day, I’m mostly just happy to add another notch to my racing belt. I was so happy that Alex joined me for the run (and he clocked in just under 2 hours – something I’m madly envious about lol) because it meant I got to spend more time with him.

Race Results

• Finish Time: 2:10:24
• Pace: 6:10 per kilometer
• Overall placement: 12366/17627
• Age group placement (Female 35-39 years): 424/821
• Gender placement (F): 4175/7555