Tallinn Half Marathon

Fast, flat, beautifully scenic and smelt like Southend on Sea at times. If you need a qualifying marathon, and fancy a short break with amaaaaaazing and cheap food, this is definitely the race to go for. The marathon course is the half marathon course twice over, and has the benefit of starting at 9 am, so you don’t get too hit by the midday sun. We halfers started at noon: and it was very warm, and there was a lack of shade from miles 3-12.  I still came within sniffing of a PB. 1:50:43 by the chip… Once I made it into the shade I was able to kick up 10 seconds per mile for the last couple of miles. Just imagine if I’d had more shade?! Or if it had been a tad cooler, like the day before and the day after… 21 deg C in the shade is no fun for running. 26 deg C in the sun is definitely a challenge. My heart rate (enhanced by ventolin) was about 180+ for the duration and briefly peaked at 200.

And, please remind me, when I get unsure of my running. Of 3216 finishers (1365 women, 870 in my age group, which was basically under 40) I was 844th over all, 137th female, 90th in my age group. By gun time… It took a minute and a half to get over the line from pen III.

And the food in Tallinn is sublime. And very cheap compared to the UK. We did fine dining and loved it.

I’m lazy: most of my photos are in the Instagram feed on the left.

Xxx