Finnish Championships Halfmarathon 2009 in Pyhäselkä: 1:10:01 (10th place)

April 26, 2009

Finally I can rule off the month of April. With a 10th place in 1:10:01h finish at the Finnish halfmarathon Championships I would not have been satisfied 1 month ago, but since I had no aim except finishing the race after the troubles in April, I am not too disappointed now. Also the way the race went was giving me new hope. I ran even splits (10K:33:12min, 20K:66:22min)and caught up a lot of guys on the last third of the race. After 12km the engine started to role and I was sure to have a positive 2nd half (in the German Champs I didn’t even come to the 12K-mark).

The course was not as fast as expected and there were quite a lot of rolling hills and turns that broke the rhythm. In each of the 4 laps an altitude difference of 33m had to be covered – that made almost 140meters for the 21,1 km. On some parts the asphalt was also really old and uneven, so only few personal bests were achieved on the course. Also the fact that a 2008 olympic marathoner for Finnland (Francis Kirwa) ran a 1.08.56h makes it a bit easier to come over the own weak performance.

I was quite surprised when I saw the results list after coming home, because immediately after the race several people told me that the time was just under 1:10h. Since I didn’t run with an own time I can’t say something about for that but still I’m a bit confused that the time is over 1:10 – WTF?

Anyway. The April in overall was a big disappointment running-wise. Now I’ll decrease the training and concentrate on studying. I’ll still keep in shape for some races and the Finnish Cross-Country Championships where my club will have a team but in general the spring is over for me.

Erik Hass (6) and Joni Rautio (29) at around halfway of the Finnish Halfmarathon Championships (SM maantie) in Pyhäselkä 2009. (picture by Miika)