Over Hanover#

Tue, 30 May 2006 13:00:00 +0000

Hannover-Celle marathon is a point-to-point race between point A somewhere on the outskirts of Hannover, and point B, which is somewhere in Celle. I didn't see much of the latter place (I was concentrating) but I got the impression it wasn't really big enough to have outskirts as such.

The German for "weather" is "wetter", but after seeing somewhat mixed forecasts, I'm happy to report that atmospheric conditions in Hannover yesterday were in fact "drier". Bit slippy in one section which ran under trees, and a fierce wind which was with us for the first half - skating at 38km/h didn't even feel like work - and against us for the second - suddenly, we were skating at 28km/h and it felt a lot like work.

I got on what I think was probably the front pack at the start, which was too fast. I lasted about, oh, ten minutes before the guy in front of me dropped off, and despite pullinq out around him to chase them for a while, didn't really have spare energy to close the gap decisively. After a while I found myself in a line of three and we alternated leads for a few k before the second pack caught us, so I jumped onto that and was able to relax for a while.

I stayed with that pack for the rest of the race, doing probably more than was sensible on the front - I don't think anyone behind about tenth place ever took a pull - before a pretty short but quite satisfying sprint at the end. And then just had to wait for my vision to clear.

Finished in 29th place with 1:17:06, which is technically a PB, but Lille was actually faster. It's more or less what I was expecting after Berlin and Lille, so though it's good to have that confirmed, it's not a cause for massive celebration.

That said, the other way of looking at it is that I finished less than ten minutes behind the winner, and that I'm quite happy about.

Next marathon target 1:15 - I know I was racing at that speed in Lille, so it's attainable. Next stop Preston (though it's unlikely to be where I break 1:15), and then no more racing for three weeks until Le Mans. Time to start getting some hills into my training.