Caernarfon half marathon; my last?

After the Snowdonia half marathon when my knees gave up around the 10 mile mark, I had been studiously doing my physiotherapy exercises, and managed fast runs of up to 10k, and slower runs of up to 20k. But would I manage to have prepared my iliotibial bands for 21k, a fast as possible? I was hoping to finally break my personal best on the half marathon, as it had stood since 2022, at 1:42:20. Could I drop below 1:40?

I got myself to the start in all my new kit (shirt, shoes, vest), and made sure the vest contained two knee stabilisers. For in case my preparation hadn’t been enough. I didn't have any experience in mitigating IT band issues with those, but some googling had suggested it might work, and it was well worth the try. I do know they can really take the strain off your knees, and it felt plausible that they can even do that when the problem isn't actually the knees.

The start

I started close to the front, and in the beginning all went well. The beginning normally does go well. I did struggle a bit to round the city wall on the seafront; my running shoes didn't have a grip on the material there! Luckily, this is only a short stretch. Soon we were on the bicycle path along the river.

On the bicycle path; all still good

In the Snowdonia half, I had felt a clanging runner’s high come up after a few kilometres. That didn't happen now. But I was quite happily plodding along. And I kept an eye on my times by every mile sign. So far so good.

After a few miles what I feared would happen, happened: I started to feel my IT band in each knee. This was only going to get worse. I spent a few miles wondering when I would put my knees stabilisers on. It wasn't a question of ‘if’. I didn't know whether it was best to do it as soon as possible so the problem wouldn't get worse very fast, or postpone it, as once you put the stabilisers on, you lose a lot of mobility in your knees, and that's not in general a good thing during running.

When I started running again this post stabilisers all I noticed it wasn't very comfortable. And my stride got shorter and stiffer. But I could feel that neoprene giving some relief to my IT bands. And that was the important bit.

I put them on at 7 miles; at around 10.5 miles I tightened them, as the problem has still been getting worse, albeit slower. Almost there! I wasn't trying to beat anyone anymore, or any particular time; I was just hoping to be able to keep running.

Still smiling in spite of the knees

The answer was: yes! I did manage to run all the way to the finish. It was more of a hobble by then, but technically still running. And when I turned around after the finish I saw that the clock was showing something like 1:40:23. So still a personal record! And not under 1:40, would you expect his knee problems. Having to stop twice to faff with my stabilisers wouldn't have helped either.

Looking a bit grim by then, but still running! 

And the finish

After the race

I didn’t hope I would end up kitted out like this

I decided not to wait for the ceremony. So many women had run past me when I was faffing with my knees! And I wanted to get home. And later this afternoon I saw I wasn't far off, I had run 1:40:20, and it still being the fastest woman in my age category. Oh well. If they would have published their timings there and then, which is totally doable as other organisations do it, I would have waited around!

I was glad I at least had improved my PB. But I also thought I might never improve it from this. Clearly, doing physiotherapy exercises every day was not enough to let my IT bands cope with this level of distance and speed. I could imagine I could bring them back into shape if I would really train meticulously, but who has the time for that? I might have to accept I am now short distance runner. And see if I can still improve on my 10k personal best. That is quite fast already! But who knows what I can still do. And maybe I should make sure I run a 5k somewhere. I haven't done one since 2016, so surely I can improve on that. Unfortunately, the next 5k race I had my eyes on clashes with cave rescue business. But I can always do a Parkrun.

My very first race was a half marathon! But it might be time to bail out. Until, perhaps, I retire, because then I can train until I am blue in the face…