Lincoln Half Marathon - 5th Oct 2025 - Race Report
A (fairly picture heavy) discussion on my recent 1/2 Marathon Race 3 Days ago
Regular readers will be aware, but for those who aren't, I've been waiting all year to run the 1/2 Marathon Race here in Lincoln. I originally signed up for it way back in October last year, so this has been a long time coming. As I mentioned in that 'signing up' post, I had just picked up a niggly groin injury. I was optimistic that in the following 12 months, I would get past the injury, and then I could then try a proper training block with some speedwork and interval sessions, with a lofty time target of 1 hour 45 minutes.
Little did I know then, just how relentlessly rubbish my training would become... with set back after niggle after fall after set back.
Eventually, after a stop-start, hit and miss year, I made it into the start of September and, with help from the local physio, it appeared I had finally solved the injury issue, and was able to try to string some consistent training together.
Preparations
Slowly but surely...with a new found routine of walking to work and then running home in the afternoon, I started to make some progress. I also stepped up my exercises and stretching in the evenings to help recover ready for the next sessions. Throw in a long run to pick up my race number, and another at 10 miles long (the furthest I've run this year) and I began to feel confident that I would not just make it to the start line, but be able to finish in one piece!
The night before the event, I laid out all my kit... the blue top was colour coordinated to match with my blue running shoes (er...which aren't pictured) to go with black shorts and a black cap. I decided to have a running vest on me, not due to the distance, but more so it was easy to carry my phone. And of course, completed by some lucky running socks :-)
I was expecting to take many pictures on the way round!
I tried to get an early nights sleep, and then bright and early at 8.15 the following morning my Dad picked me up. The Race was going to start at the Lincolnshire showground, which a short 15 minute drive up the road. The race was due to start at 9:30, so I knew we'd be far too early, but very early is always better than 2 minutes late...
and then just 2 miles from the Showground, we got stuck in a massive tailback.
This is the first time the event has taken place, and sadly it showed with the organization. There were too many cars arriving at the same time, from several small roads, and there was gridlock.
20 minutes later, after moving 3/4 of a mile, I could see the car park where we were headed, but this still needed a further 25 minute queue to head to a roundabout, turn left, and then come back in to the car park from the other side.
After a nail bighting few minutes, of which other people starting leaving cars and walking in in, we finally parked up at 9:20... I dashed across the field and into the starting Pens
I suppose that counts as a warm up!
Starting the race
At 9:26, I was stood ready, crammed into a starting Pen that was far too narrow considering the amount of people... only to be told by the announcer that as so many people were still struggling to get inside the grounds, the race was due to be delayed by 10 minutes
It may have looked vaguely sunny here, but let me tell you, it was a strong, cold wind that was blowing today. At least the cramped pens made us huddle together to keep warm. I was only in t-shirt and shorts, so I was shivering, but I knew that once we got going, I would warm up soon enough.
...and we're off!
Sorry, there didn't appear to be a countdown, or maybe I was too far back to hear it!
After a bit of shuffling forwards, we gradually moved in to a a slow jog... my race was underway
not a very flattering picture, but this was taken by my Dad, and it at least proves I was there lol
It does also show my matching blue running shoes, so at least my outfit looked cool, even if I didn't!
The 1/2 Marathon is 21.1km long (or for those retro types, 13.1 miles). I was taking pictures all the way through, mostly on the move, so apologies if some of these are a little blurry
The Race could be split into 3 sections
- Heading into Lincoln (approx 7km)
- Enjoying the Sights around town (approx 7km)
- Heading back out of town (again, approx 7km!)
Heading into Lincoln
From the start line, we headed round the showground, and then joined the long straight road south
following the 2 hours 10 minute pacer
I should really mention by the way, technically my personal best time over this distance was 1 hour 57 minutes, but that was just in a random training run 2 years ago. Due to the relaxed nature of that run, I feel strongly that I'm capable of a much better time, and at the start of this year I had a goal of 1hr45, maybe even down to 1hr 40... obviously that never materialized, so today my A goal was to finish, and to enjoy the day out with like-minded people. My secondary goal was to get as close to 2 hours as possible, but I wasn't going to push it.
Due to the cramped nature of the starting pens, I found my self behind the 2 hour 10 pacer, and to begin with this was totally fine.
the road was very straight... and bordering on boring, but it at least allowed me to tick off some easy early km's
a bridge over the A46 bypass, was about as interesting as it got!
and then before I knew it, we entered the suburbs of Lincoln (this is Burton road, near marker '4' as seen on the map below
Enjoying the Sights
Now it was time for some more interesting surroundings, and also for a few supporters to start lining the streets
This is known as the 'Bailgate' which is a line of independent and expensive local shops up in the Cathedral Quarter... and the Cathedral Quarter gets its name from the...
... magnificent Lincoln Cathedral (more pics of the cathedral here)
After the cathedral, we headed through Castle square, and then down Yarborough Hill towards the Brayford
It was starting to get a little busier supporter wise, but we were close to the center of town here. The grey building in the corner is the Odeon Cinema btw
Brayford Pool ( the large body of water) - we would eventually do a lap around this during the course of the race.
after a couple of boring side streets, we nipped through the grounds of the University of Lincoln (no pics oops), and then we rejoined the main road, now on the other side of the Brayford Pool
Running along here, I spotted a familiar face, the petite blond lady in the middle of the picture turned out to be a person I used to work with!
It was lovely to spend 10 mins or so running along side each other, with a mini catch up, and then comments on the race. It was the first time she had attempted this distance, so she was lacking confidence, and I did my best to motivate and convince her that her training run 3 weeks ago for 18km shows she is more than capable of completing this.
The course was generally quite undulating, it wasn't hilly as such, but the road kept rising and falling. There was however one big hill on the course, Yarborough Hill. We had already run down this earlier in the race, but unfortunately what goes down must eventually go back up!
I was chatting to my friend while we started running up the hill, and then I made a mistake... I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, and after a couple of minutes, I turned round to ask her a question, and she wasn't there!
I turned behind me and realized I had left her behind, she was nearly 10 meters behind me
whoops!
I slowed down a little for her but she waved me on, she knew she was going to go slower, and could see that I was looking to pick up the pace. So instead I turned round and powered up the hill. And I do mean powered up, whether I had a burst of energy, or the many times I run up cross o cliff hill on the way home from work, but I overtook so many people!
At this point I also overtook the pacers for the 2hr05 time... thats a clue for what was to come next ;-)
oh, and my friend did eventually complete it in just over 2 hours :-)
Heading back out of town
It was time to start heading back out of town towards the Finish line at the Lincolnshire Showground. And with that surge of energy that took me up the hill, I carried on all the way back. By this point (14km) I had the hardest part out of the way and it was just 7km left. Thats near enough the same distance as my runs home each day, and that was no distance at all
a very blurry 9 mile marker!
back over the bypass bridge
and a quiet back road, partially obscured by a finger (In my defence, I was starting to push on at this point, less time for pictures!)
It was somewhere around here that I spotted some more pacers in the far distance. I had already overtaken the 2hr05 pacers on Yarborough Hill, so surely that meant that the 2hr Pacer was ahead
could I really get under 2 hours?!
Enough with taking pictures, my phone went away, and I gritted my teeth and increased the pace. Sure enough I caught the Pacer, and she was indeed running a 2hr pace.... if I kept just ahead of her, I would get under 2 hours.... but now I wanted more
The last 2 km passed by in a blur, I was just heading for the finish line
check out this awesome action shot from my Dad's phone, showing me charging towards the finish line as fast as my little legs could carry me
and before I knew it, I had crossed the finish line!
Finish!
Medal!
T-shirt! ( I love the orange by the way!)
Goody Bag - a pretty reasonable mix of snacks, all of which where eaten or drunk for lunch later on that day, the protein shake was the pick of the bunch here, yum!
So, I got a shiny medal, and a snazzy orange t-shirt, and some tasty snacks... but what about the important question, what time did I get?
Chip time - 1 hour 56 minutes and 15 seconds - well that looks like a PB to me!
It only beat my previous best time by less than a minute, but considering 3 months ago I was barely running at all, and my best hope for today was to get reasonably close to 2 hours, I'm well chuffed to see this. And a final position of 874th out of 2067 runners puts me comfortably in the top half of the field.... yes, today was a good day :-
Results and analysis of performance
Below is a list of graphs from Strava....these mostly show 2 things, that I was steady and consistent throughout the early stages of the race, and that in turn enabled me to finish strongly at the end... it wasn't quite a sprint finish, but I tried!!
The slower portion around 12-13km was when I talked to my friend, before I left her in my dust going up the hill
it was also really interesting to see my 5km splits (as 21 could be seen as 4 x 5km (plus a bit))
1st 5km split - 28m:45s
2nd 5km split - 27m:48s
3rd 5km split - 28m:09s
4th 5km split - 25m:57s
Again showing the consistent steady start and a strong finish
And the above gives a breakdown of the km splits at each step of the race. You can really see the 'kick' from the 17th km all the way to the end.
So yes, in conclusion, I had a fantastic time, and also got a time that I'm very happy with. I managed to catch up with a friend during the race, and also afterwards, and I had an absolute blast while doing so, in some glorious sunshine.
This was a really good day.
What next?
Er... pfft... I dunno to be honest!
I do know I still feel great, and that in terms of recovery, I'm already back into running my normal weekly plan again. The fact that I don't feel to stiff or sore afterwards, shows that I definitely had more in the tank, and could go quicker next time. And I thoroughly enjoyed the route, as a local race, it is one I'd happily do again, although I hope the parking/set up to be better organized next time.
The thing is, I'm not sure what to do next. Do I use this as a springboard into some better constructed training, so I can hit the PB I'm sure I can achieve, or is it time to change focus and choose a different event distance? I mean, after a year of only doing shorter distances, I'm itching to stretch my legs again, and move back up to marathon distances (and beyond)
I do know that training is easier with something to aim for, so I'll get my thinking cap on, and hopefully I can update you all in a few weeks with my plans for next year
For now...I'm gonna put my feet up for a couple of days and have a well deserved rest :-)
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