Date: April 30, 2017
Location: Hackney, London, UK
The night before
I swear this race is cursed.
This will be the 3rd time I’ve run Hackney Half Marathon since it’s creation 4 years ago. Up until this year it was run by Vitality but Virgin took it over, rebranded it and raised the cost. I only actually paid for this race the first time around. Last year GoodGym was their partner club and therefore I was one of the pacers. This year Hackney council was giving away 250 places to Hackney residents on a first come first serve basis.
The first year (2014):
- The buses they listed in the race pack as running were not running so we all had to walk 2 miles to the start (this is when I lived in Stoke Newington).
- It was insanely hot
- They ran out of water for the slower runners.
- People were passing out and being sick right and left, it was like a
Second year(2015):
Don’t know, I didn’t run it but I saw there were T-shirts and they moved the race up a month to May.
Third year (2016):
I was the 2:15 pacer. I actually enjoyed the race and loved pacing but it was still cursed…
red alert fun at Hackney Half 2016
- The race was the first week of May but there was a freak hot spell and it was around 85F
- The race didn’t start on time and we had to wait a good 30 min at the start line
- They didn’t have enough medics to deal with all the heat related emergencies so the poor marshals (also provided by GoodGym) had to deal with some very ill people.
- This is unrelated to the race but on my way there an older women fell and I had to help her with another gentleman and ended up being late again (though late for me is anything besides ridiculously early but it was still stressful)
- The pacing backpacks didn’t fir my small shoulders so by the end of the race my neck looked like it was covered in hickeys which I had fun explaining at work Monday morning.
So this year Virgin have moved the race up to April to avoid any chance of a heat wave. I thought the curse was broken until I heard from my friend Frances that the overground station needed to get to the race start were all closed for engineering works. What shit timing!
*beginning of London specific transport rant, ok to skip for non-Londoners*
The middle of Hackney marshes is already difficult to get to with race related road closures but without the nearest overground stations you are looking at a 2 mile walk at least. So now thanks to tfl and the road closures I’ll have to add a good 4 miles in walking there and back to the half marathon. Great.
I then spent over an hour researching how to get to the start which is a pretty miserable way to spend the night before race. I was hoping to relax, eat beets and drink my body weight in various sugary drinks but now I’m stressing out about how the hell I’m going to get there. Citymapper, Google Maps, TFL and the race website have all failed me.The virgin sport website didn’t have the start postcode anywhere and was extremely unhelpful. I am expecting lots of late and unhappy people. They say it’s a 15 min walk from Leyton station but when I looked it up on google maps it said 25. That’s a pretty big difference.
It looked like there was no way of avoiding the 30 min walk and 90 min journey that only should have taken 50 min. Its very frustrating how somewhere 6 miles away will take me close to 90 min to get to. If I wasn’t already racing I’d just run there at be faster.
*transport rant over*
Lets hope the actual race on Sunday will be better.
Pre-Race
Luckily travelling to the race village in the morning wasn’t all that bad but I did have to walk 2 miles to get there. I ended up not being able to sleep at all the night before and when I arrived I really felt it. I knew if I lay down on the grass I’d be able to fall asleep right there despite the loud music and race MC.
Virgin definitely went for the ‘festival’ vibe. There were multiple food stalls, a climbing tower, flags, arches with streamers and random billboards with Richard Branson quotes. Apparently Branson was there as well but I skipped all the pre-race activities to be with the other GoodGymers.
The bag drop was deserted so we all hung on to our coats for as long as possible. It was looking to be a sunny day but it was still too cold and windy at 8am for a vest and shorts to be comfortable standing around in. It seems like everyone else had the same idea though since a massive queue developed at 8:30. Luckily it turned out the queue was only massive in my section since people didn’t realize their race number was the number deciding which section to leave their bags in.
the baggage tent
We were all given large clear bags with our race number to put our stuff in to make things safe and easy. I’m a big fan of this baggage method since I still have my clear bag from the London 10,000 last year and I use it all the time. It’s massive so it’s perfect for races when you have a winter coat and a backpack but can only leave one bag or just hauling groceries.
the bag that keeps on giving
After leaving our bags we made our way to the starting pens. A few of us skipped ahead to the area in front of us so we could all start together and start with the appropriate pacers. Not sure how they divided the start areas since a friend of mine with the same half time was in the earlier group. luckily it wasn’t an issue and it all worked out fine.
The plan was to aim for around 2 hours. I was feeling very confident in my training and was originally going to go for a PB despite this not being an A race for me. However my body seemed to have different plans for me on race day since apparently staying up all night before a half marathon doesn’t put you in top shape. Who knew!
Steve from GoodGym Lewisham was running his first half and also roughly aiming for sub 2hr so I agreed to help pace him. I also started with Jason from Hammersmith & Fulham who was using Hackney half as part of a longer training run for the London to Brighton 100km. It’s always nice to have others to run with.
Unlike in past years it started on time and it was only about a 10 min wait for us to cross the start line. There was great support at the start and it wasn’t too congested either. The only problem was that there were lots of bumps in the mat they laid out for the start which meant you really had to watch your step for the first 200 or so meters until you made it unto the road. I’m surprised none of us tripped.
Me, the side of Andy’s cheek, Frances, Pritesh, Hass, Lewisham Steve and Jason at the start line
Race
The first few miles were amazing. There were so many brass bands and drumming groups on the course and the streets were lined with enthusiastic spectators. The spectators were really fantastic in that they didn’t just cheer their friends, they cheered for everyone. It makes a huge difference since it can be demoralizing to run past a large group of silent people. One girl early on cheered out my name and I was so surprised I waved at her assuming I knew her. Oh well.
one of the many amazing bands on course
A group from Goodgym came out to cheer as well which was the best thing ever. They didn’t just pick one spot either so we had the chance to see them multiple times. It really does make all the difference when you’re struggling.
I made the same mistake I always make which is feeling over-confident and starting off too fast even though an 8:45 pace feels super easy for the first 5km. I also didn’t have my glucose tablets with me this time so I would have to relay on the lucozade at the aid stations for any sugar boost. Still we were keeping a pretty decent pace and enjoying the brilliant atmosphere of the race. I’ll blame my bad pacing skills on the kids in animal onesies having a blast telling all the runners to run faster.
I started to feel a dip in energy at about the 4 mile point but nothing serious. For most of the race I didn’t see any mile markers so I was unsure of how far we had gone. I was mainly concerned with the pace when looking at my watch and just focused on those numbers. Steve seemed to have abundant energy at this point so I was worried that I would be holding him back soon.
The lack of sleep was effecting my eyesight and everything was a bit blurry and surreal. Luckily there were so many distractions from the crowd and the course was flat so I managed ok. There were loads of water and aid stations on the course so I only stopped at every other one. The sun was shinning bright through the race so I put as much water on me as in me. The temperature was only about 61 degrees but when you have been training in the grey dark winters of England that first sunny race of the year is a big shock to the system. My body has to relearn what sun and warmth is at the same time as running 13.1 miles.
The marshals on course were phenomenal. I don’t know where they came from, if they were from Virgin or just volunteers from the community, but some of them deserved medals. There was one guy at about 7 miles who was cheering runners and I heard ‘I see you Danica’ over a megaphone. It completely brightened my day and helped me push through the second half of the race.
They also had lots of nice inspirational signs around the course. Many had movie quotes that were converted into running related slogans. It was a nice touch.
I started to slow down after 7 miles but was still keeping a sub 2hr overall average until the last 3 miles. That is often the case though this final 5km was particularly painful. They have changed the final 3 or 4 miles of Hackney half a few times now but it seems they never quite get it right.
The first year it was a soulless, exposed, out and back route through unsupported roads around olympic park. With the heat that year it was like a war zone littered with fallen runners and medics. Last year they changed it around but it was still ugly and forced runners to spend the last tough bits running on pebbles.
This year they ditched the pebbles and moral crushing turn around but replaced them with PB devouring hills. Olympic park is still under so much renovation and feels very industrial and sad. The open roads are also exposed to the sun without relief of trees for shade and there are less areas for spectators. It was mostly the inclines that got to us though. We watched the 2hr pacers pass us and had no intent on catching them up again.
It was almost liberating giving up on any time goal since I could just enjoy the race. I wished this had been my plan all along since it was a bit too late to enjoy the race when everything was hurting and I was using all my energy to avoid throwing up.
guess which one of us didn’t notice the camera in time
There was a tough incline at mile 11 that the running club Run Dem Crew took over as their cheering point. They had music and confetti and were cheering all the runners with an intense energy. It was definitely a welcome boost but I regretted speeding up as I soon felt worryingly nauseous. Luckily I managed to slow down and control the feeling until it passed.
I told Steve he could speed on ahead if he wanted but turns out he was happy with the pace we were keeping and we just kept our focus on finishing. I started to fantasize about the cold pint I’d have after the race was over and was counting down the seconds until the finish line. I gave up on controlling my pace around mile 10 so my watch was all about the remaining millage at that point. The water stops became more frequent during the last 2 miles but I decided not to stop since we were so close to the end.
The best part about the final section of the race were the mist shower stations. Each time one of those came up on the horizon it felt like religious salvation. My prayers were being answered and the universe was mercilessly smiling upon my sweaty, suffering body. I almost thought my blurry eyes were hallucinating one in the distance at one point since it felt too good to be true. I was very relived I wasn’t that far gone and the blurriness was real water, not my imagination. My heaven is a mist shower finish line on a hot day.
We finally made it out of Olympic Park hell and back past Mabley Green for the last kilometer. Jason caught back up with us at this point so I was really hoping we would all finish together. I thought I was going to have to drop back though since that last section had an incline that I just didn’t have the stomach for. Jason was encouraging me to speed up for the final push to the finish line and luckily I hit that mat again in one piece. Those last few hundred meters to the finish felt like an eternity since I was feeling so ill. I was happy that all three of us GoodGymers that started together ended up crossing the finish line together. That made it all worth it in the end. I’m heartbroken there isn’t a single picture of the three of us anywhere near the finish.
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- The closest I got to a finishing photo
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- Thanks photographer
To be fair I am small and blurry in real life
I’m pretty sure they called my name or at least called out GoodGym when we crossed the finish line but my memory is a bit hazy at that point. I tried to keep running slowly after the finish line so I could ease my body into finishing and avoid being sick but it was one of those finishes where you then have to queue up and shuffle along slowly while getting your medal and goodies. I ended up vomiting 3 times the last being right in front of a cheering family. Sorry! At least I finished the race before getting sick. Apparently I wasn’t the only one either and there were lots of sick runners. Remind me not to cheer at the finish line of a big race ever.
Our final time was 2:02:45 which was honorable and I’m happy with. Lots of GoodGymers were volunteering and handing out medals so I was a bit disappointed I didn’t see any of them on the medal line. The lady that gave me my medal was a bit grumpy as well but I could have just been projecting that since I expected my friends to be there. I did see Beth at the very end of the goodie bag line though so that was really nice.
The goodies were certainly adequate. I was impressed that the race shirts were gender specific so I actually will end up wearing it. They didn’t have an XS option so it’s still a bit big but it’s usable for sure. The technical material feels high quality and the design is black on the front and says Hackney on the back. Very tasteful. Other than decent shirts we got water, lucozade and a bunch of other food snacks. I still haven’t finished them all and am looking forward to having the peanut butter later.
The marketing strategy of the year for expensive races like this seems to be free race photos. It’s a good idea since the prices you would normally pay are exorbitant and hardly worth it. However I had a bad feeling that without the possibility to make money off of each photo there would be little incentive to capture as many runners as possible along the course. Some people got luckily and had loads of great photos. Unfortunately every photographer seemed to be taking breaks when we passed by. I only saw one person actually take my picture on route and I only got two nearly identical photos in that one place. I don’t take great photos anyway but I am extremely disappointing that there was a camera at the finish that didn’t manage to get even one photo of us three GoodGymers triumphant finish.
Only Jason managed to get a nice finishing photo but if you look hard you can see my calf and shorts!
Getting home was nightmare involving rail replacement buses that never showed up and far too must post race walking but I’ll spare you another transportation rant.
A special congrats to everyone who got PBs at Hackney half. Steve ‘Speed’ Coman, Hass and Tom Bedwell set amazing personal records. Also congrats to Lewisham Steve* for running his first half marathon and well done to Jason for having the will power to run another 30km after the race. Thanks again for running with me guys!
*Hey UK, you need to get more creative with your male names! there are too many Steves and Toms!
GoodGymers Andy, Steve Coman and Hass rockin Hackney
Review Stats:
Hackney Half Marathon Medal
Medal– nice ribbon, has the date and is solid but kind of plain. Would have liked a more Hackney related or interesting design.
Goody Bags– Nice gender specific shirts, peanut butter sachet, salt & vinegar popcorn crisps, dried mango, blueberry and milk protein drink, rubber bracelet that says 5 off the British 10k, banana, lucozade and water in a reusable tote bag.
Results– chip timed and results were on the Virgin app by 6pm with 3, 6, and 9 mile splits.
Baggage Drop– well organized with little wait before and after. Biggest issue was people not knowing their race number was the number used to divide baggage areas.
Toilets– I didn’t use them luckily since the queue before the race started was insane!
Support/atmosphere– definitely the highlight of this race is the support from spectators. Hackney residents create an amazing atmosphere and were not the kind of spectators only cheering for friends. There were also bands and music along the course.
Start– easy staggered start. Not a long wait and not too congested.
Marshals– The best!
PB potential– The last few miles are killer but it’s still mostly flat.
Value for Money– not sure if it was worth the full £50 but it is London and you do get nice goodies and free race photos (I was very unimpressed with the race photos though).
Overall Organisation– a big improvement from previous years. Everything went smoothly except transportation.
Overall: The support from Hackney spectators was one-of-a-kind and made this an enjoyable race despite the difficult last 3 miles.
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