16th February 2025
You may be wondering what half marathons have to got do with sailing. I first started running as part of my training to climb Beerenberg, the world’s most northerly volcano. I had been caught out a few years earlier when I joined a group of friends skiing the Haute Route. I soon became aware that both my skiing skills and my general fitness was simply not up for it, a bit of swimming and cycling was definitely not enough. It resulted in me being in the most beautiful Alpine scenery in glorious weather but being unable to enjoy it due to sheer exhaustion. From that moment I swore I would ensure that I had the necessary skills and the fitness to achieve whatever endeavour was planned and Scoresby Sund is on the agenda for next year!
I joined British Military Fitness about 15 years ago (it has now changed to Military Outdoor Fitness) and signed up for various long runs. By the time we climbed Beerenberg we were so fit that despite 20 hours of continuous climbing we were still grinning from side to side.
So I decided to carry on with the fitness training and doing various runs. Ryan at MOF always insists that “consistency” is the most important thing and I think that I agree.
Each week I try to attend a couple of training classes on Blackheath and each year I enter the same three half marathons. They are Deal, Marlow and the tough Steyning Stinger.
I think this must be the 11th time I have run the Deal Half Marathon and despite my training it is sadly not getting any easier, but at least I can run the distance without walking the hills.
By being consistent with my runs I can easily gauge my overall performance over a long time period. I finished Deal a little bit quicker this year, but not nearly as fast as Toby Smith who got around in 1 hour 12 minutes and 41 seconds – almost twice as fast!
I thought my time was really good and I was looking forward to seeing the age adjusted results but I was pretty rubbish. There was a 70+ runner who whizzed around in 1 hour 43 minutes which would be an impressive time for a twenty year old.
It is interesting to see how age affects finishing times over a period. My sub 2 hours runs are well in the past.
2014 1 hour 46 minutes 48 seconds
2015 1 hour 44 minutes 43 seconds
2017 1 hour 50 minutes 46 seconds
2018 1 hour 55 minutes 02 seconds
2019 2 hours 07 minutes 12 seconds
2022 2 hours 05 minutes 57 seconds
2023 2 hours 04 minutes 08 seconds
2024 2 hours 12 minutes 27 seconds
2025 2 hours 07 minutes 54 seconds
Getting obsessed with times isn’t meant to be very helpful. The run should apparently just be enjoyed as a jog in the countryside. Fat chance of that.
As always the race is very well organised and super friendly with lots of locals helping out.
All my half marathons are great social occasions and the Deal Half is a chance to catch up with my friend Philip over a carb loading evening meal (thanks Sarah) and a massive Sunday lunch.
This year we revisited the Rising Sun pub in North Road and ate a delicious roast lamb lunch. I spotted what looked like our dinners being delivered to the wrong table but they started eating them before I could interject. There was then an appetite building long pause before the chef conjured up our nosh which was demolished at record speed.
Next up is the Steyning Stinger.
I suspect I’ll be walking a few of those hills!
Leave a Reply