Fresh off the back of a massive PB at Manchester Marathon, running a 3:09:46, I took the advice of Pete Dearing and “El Captain” Matty Hayes, not to have a marathon hangover, and get back training hard as soon as possible. Speed work, hilly routes and keeping regular 15 mile long runs in the bank, plus a couple of cracking summer league performances (for me!) had me feeling in great form going into the North Lincs Half Marathon.

My current half marathon PB was 1:28:58, and inside of me I knew that was going to go, but sometimes the pressure can cause you to do silly things! But here we are, standing on the start line in cold north westerly wind conditions which you would expect at the Ferriby 10 in January, nerves where jangling, the gun goes and away we go! I was running with a friend, Paul Osborne, of Kingston Upon Hull Running club, we quickly got into a good rhythm, ticking the first mile off effortlessly at 6:37, and I knew that baring one section where the wind could be a factor, that this could be my pace for the race.

The miles ticked over one after the other, all within a few seconds of each other, keeping up my recent pacing form (At Manchester marathon my second half was only 41 seconds slower than the first) We made the turn into the wind section, but although a little more effort was required the rhythm pulled us though, only running those 3 miles around 3 or 4 seconds a mile slower.

When we turned at 9 miles, we knew we had the conditions and the lay of the land with us for a good finish, at this point there was a group of 5 of us, the other 3 guys were fighting more than we where and said they were using me and Paul to pace them. The 10 mile mark came, the flash on my watch told me I had a 10 mile PB within this race, buzzing, and now confident to attack the last 5k. I said to the fella’s around us “right boys, that’s the easy part, now it’s time to board the pain train!”

At this point we kicked, running our 3 quickest miles, the graft was on, I knew the PB was on, but could I break 1:27? I kept upping it, then as we approached the final section on the race track at Quibell Park, I just had Pete Dearing in my head zooming around in his car on a speed work session, I gave it everything, the well known “Dave Wilson Groans” where now out, my Garmin said the last 0.2 miles was around 5:50 a mile pace, I hammered home to the line – 1:26:58 on my watch although official time was just over 1:27 and coming 99th, either way it was a massive PB and to make it an even better day for the Wilson household, my wife came home with a 3 minute PB too, rocking home 1:47:42 for her first sub 1:50.

If any Harriers want a fast, flat PB half marathon course, this is the one! Nice countryside views, well supported and organised, plenty of aid stations, a brilliant finish area and they look after you post race too!

I feel this is a good step towards my ultimate goal of a sub 3 marathon, I know I’ve got alot of blood, sweat, tears and hard work to put in, but being around good people at this club I feel confident one day I can make it happen!

Dave Wilson