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I hadn't raced in Malta since... I can't even remember. In fact I hadn't run at all in Malta since almost a whole year due to various mishaps and injuries.
I sort of made up for this in the 2014 edition of the Malta Half Marathon.
Looking at the statistics of my previous participations in this one, I noticed a steady decline with the advancing years. Can't be helped, of course. I had achieved an impressive 1h30:11 when I was 14 years younger, followed in later years by 1h31 and 1h34. In recent years I was doing 1h40 or so in half marathons in Belgium. A PB this year was just the stuff of wild dreams, but the downhill profile of this race did justify an expectation for a sub-1h40.
But first of all, the greatest pleasure I had from this return to my running roots was the opportunity of reuniting with so many dear friends.
I miss them really a lot. The picture above, taken just before the start, shows from left to right: Victor Laurenti, Lee Micallef, myself, Charles Tedesco and a fifth person who I'm sure is a fantastic chap, but who unfortunately I don't know at all... There were also many others, and to all of them I was glad to say hello, how are you, it's great to be here and to see you again.
The event has grown tremendously since my previous participations. Back then the field used to consist of hundreds of runners, now it's in the thousands. More than 2000 ran this half marathon, while a comparable number did a "walkathon" - exactly the same event, at a walking pace.
All these thousands inevitably lead to a very crowded start, but we now had an electronic chip tied to the number, which records the actual time from the start gantry to the finish. So we didn't need to worry too much about the time lost until we actually reached the start, except that... in the official result the time given includes this wasted time in the beginning. Worse than that, groups of ignoramuses go and position themselves to start their "walkathon" ahead of the real runners, creating obvious problems, whereas they had been specifically instructed to start at the back, again for obvious reasons that needn't be spelt out at all!
After lots of pushing and shoving for the first kilometre or so, I got down to the real business of running. All I needed to do was keep weaving in between slower runners while concentrating on not running too fast. Whenever the road was downhill I let gravity do my work, otherwise I kept an eye on the runners ahead, always aiming to catch them at a comfortable pace and then looking further ahead to the next 'catch'.
This went on for most of the run. Once or twice a runner would come racing by at what seemed to me an impossible pace, but generally it was me who was doing overtaking, including quite a few of the aforementioned good friends of mine.
The going got tough around the 16th kilometre, where there was a rather long hill towards the Portes des Bombes in Floriana. This was followed by a downhill stretch to Sa Maison. I got my breath back somewhat as I switched to gravity mode until we reached sea level. From then on, for the final 4 km flat along the seafront at Msida, Ta' Xbiex and finally Gżira and the Sliema Ferries, I had to grit my teeth, ignore the weariness in my legs and push hard towards the finish.
We're doing fine, on track for 1h40, someone told his companion as I went past them near the Msida Marina. Oh well, I thought, no PB for me, but a respectable time just the same. I kept my pace, overtook some other runners as we entered the Ta' Xbiex coast road and approached the final stretch past the Manoel Island bridge.
In the last stretch, someone had the idea of writing down motivating slogans on the road, every 10 metres or so. "Work hard, play hard, run hard", "Keep going, never give up". Can't remember the exact words, but they helped. As I approached the finish I looked for my supporters who had promised they'd come to cheer for me.
Then I saw Daniela, who jumped out of the crowd and took this picture of me. Smiling through gritted teeth...
Daniela is now my official photographer... Next to her, the rest of my supporters' club, my dear wife Sue, Gianluca, Erika, Christine, Anthony, Carm. Thank you all for being there!
I don't know about the couple who were on course for a 1h40m. I came in at 1h38m plus something, official time. Chip time from start to finish gantries was 1h37:14.
Excellent run. I'm thoroughly happy with it, even more so considering that just two months ago, back in Malta, I could barely walk properly due to a back injury.
Big question mark now. Can I build on this, up to the full version? Depends on whether I still have a sufficient mix of motivation and strength to carry it out. Time will tell...
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