Race Review: Pisa Half Marathon 2022
Following the London Marathon in October 2022, which you can read my race review of here, I had a four and a half month wait for my next race (Seville marathon 2023). My coach therefore suggested I run a December half marathon, and after trawling the Internet for UK based ones I decided that I didn't in fact wish to run in Britain, in the cold, in the rain, in December. Not least one either in laps around a car race circuit or one in Milton Keynes!
So I began searching European half marathons, and Pisa looked perfect! Flat, scenic, not snowing, pizza, and beer.
Travel
As the world’s most impatient (and cheap) man, I despise travelling with a suitcase and therefore opted to just take a rucksack instead. I figured as I was only staying two nights I could get away with it, and sure enough was able to get away with packing all my running gear (including trusty Theragun!), as well as everything else I needed into a rucksack.
The flight of around 2 hours was delayed 'due to the plane having previously broken down that day' (hmm... not words you want to hear your captain say) but I saw to that by almost immediately going to sleep and waking up on touch-down.
Pisa Airport is located a short 40 minute walk into the centre of Pisa, 16 minute bus, or 15 minute taxi. Being the impatient Gen-Z'ers, we opted for taxi, which only cost around €10. Side note - Italian taxi drivers are lunatics.
Race Expo
Finding the race expo involved a bit of a hit and miss approach, as Google maps will try to take you to a location that doesn’t exist. Luckily, there were big flags signposting the exhibition, which is located in a lovely open-air courtyard near the Leaning Tower.
Everyone there was super friendly, with a couple of different stands for freebies, bib number collection etc. And because it's open 10am - 10pm the day before the race there wasn't any queue.
The race
Having walked around a mile from our hotel (Hotel Tower Plaza) to the start line, we made camp at Usain Bolt’s favourite pre-race eatery- McDonalds.
Finding a decent warm-up space was challenging given the amount of people also trying to do their thing. To avoid the masses of people, and to be honest, needing the loo, I decided to run to my hotel and back and treat that as my warm up jog. Side note - I didn’t see any toilets near the start line, so you’ll need to use the bushes!
As with all big city races, to get a decent position on the start line you had to begin queuing up for ages before the beginning of the race- something I hate as it puts all the warm up to waste by just standing still for 20 minutes. But needs must, and before I knew it the gun went off. BANG.
Prior to beginning the race I had delusions of being near the front- having seen a pace car and bikes earlier in the day. My vision of feeling like an elite athlete was dashed as soon as the gun went off when I was reminded that the fastest guys would be running around 65min... and I, well, wouldn't.
Never mind! I settled into a rhythm as the course took us through the winding streets of Pisa towards the river.
As with London, I'd found it really hard to pin down a target time, and therefore race strategy, for Pisa. I ideally wanted somewhere between 1hr15 - 1hr18, but didn’t know what was possible. I therefore settled on running by feel, and not looking at the watch, a strategy that has worked for me in the past. The first few KM go past - 3:39, 3:41, 3:40, 3:38. I still haven’t dared look at my watch, but I know I’m operating at around HM pacing, so itching for some indication of how I was doing I asked the guys in my pack what time they were aiming for. 1hr20… SHIT!
I promptly pushed on, having crossed the river, and posted a 3:34 next KM, before a couple of slight inclines to cross bridges threw me off my stride and slowed me back down to 3:40/km pace. Side note- The route is very flat, but there are quite a few little inclines / declines over bridges in the first 5km and last 3km that disrupt your stride.
After leaving this group I found myself in no mans land for a couple of KM - wanting to keep putting distance between myself and runners behind me, but also seeing one or two athletes in the distance, maybe 200m or so ahead.
Leaving the river behind us I began the 6km stretch between where the course leaves the river and moves into the gorgeous countryside. Head down, and buoyed by the cheers from hundreds of passing cyclists in some kind of peloton, I forged on, posting consistent KM times of 3:35 between 8-13km, where the course leaves the pathway winding through the countryside and joins a main road heading back to Pisa.
Side note - When running KM’s 6-11, and 13-18, you’re running on the road where only one side of the road is closed off for runners. The other side is in full use by cars, however they are not too frequent.
The small incline at the 13km marker where the Half Marathon splits from the Marathon to head back to Pisa (The Marathoners continue past here to the sea!), coupled with the hard 5k just put in and slight headwind made the long straight between 13-18km difficult. Side note - when you turn the corner at 13km you no longer have dedicated KM markers for the HM, however you use the Marathon KM markers. You’ll therefore need to do the maths to work out how much further is left… something my brain found incredibly difficult when bloody knackered.
I had a runner in my sights, and caught him at around 15km, but failed to run past him, causing an awful cat and mouse game between the two of us for a KM or so before I ultimately pulled away from him.
I knew I was slowing, and no longer on course for a 1hr16 run, so nursing a stitch I told myself to focus on getting round in a PB - 1:17.54. I had 2 guys 200-300m in front of me, but try as I might they wouldn’t get any closer to me. 3:47, 3:45, 3:43, 3:42, 3:46, 3:46…
3:26! Seeing 1km to go gave me the energy I needed to rally. The crowds (somewhat) appeared, and with every twist and turn of Pisa’s beautiful city I saw myself getting closer and closer to the runner in front of me. 200m to go, he’s still around 20m ahead. DAMN. I push, sprinting as fast as possible, and just as we round the final corner and the Leaning Tower of Pisa comes into view, I pass him to the cheers of the crowds on the final straight and record my time. 1:17:48.
Huh?
My watch says 1:17.10? Still a PB either way, but what’s happened?
My wife, waiting patiently at the finish line informs me that the clock stopped for around 30s, meaning they had to manually reset it. 1:17.10 after all then!
The biggest achievement? Being the first Brit across the line. It means absolutely nothing, yet it gives me great bragging rights to non-running friends.