Pacing is tough. It’s bad enough for 5k on the perfectly flat Hastings parkrun route. Try pacing around one of the most undulating half marathons in the country.

But if anyone was suitable for the task, it was surely the dude that a week prior to the race wrote a km by km guide on how to pace the Hastings Half Marathon route. That person being me.

What I will say is writing down the strategy on paper was much easier than executing the plan. In my defence I wasn’t scheduled to pace. I was hoping to create a race vlog but sadly the rain ruined that idea. So I took a last minute decision to pace. Something I’ve never done in a big event like this.

After a few moments of confusion between myself and the very helpful Nice Work volunteer, I finally managed to explain I wanted to pace 1 hour 50 and not 150 minutes. Then came the next challenge of actually setting up the backpack and rucksack. Luckily Will & Claire were on hand to assist otherwise I would still be there now.

I then had to calculate how fast I actually needed to run. Again Will stepped up and explained 5:13 per km was the average pace required. “That’s actually quite fast was my initial response”.

Unfortunately there was not enough time to read back over my notes and make a more structured plan.

I lapped up the attention on the start line, runners enquiring about my pacing strategy and hoping they could keep up. Off we went.

I’m not going to bore you with another km by km guide, I’ve done that once already, but I’ve listed my stats below, alongside my race by race guide splits, for a comparison.

Visually it was clear for me to see where I got my pacing wrong as heading up Queensway I was overtaking too many runners around me. Then later on in the race it was like a stampede as they came charging by down Harold Road.

I still ran the toughest 2km of Queensway 37 seconds over goal pace, but even that wasn’t slow enough. In conclusion I think I did a decent job. It was another memorable Hastings Half Marathon and my first as a coach which added to the enjoyment.

Having discovered the other pacers didn’t have to pay an entry fee I’m off to email Nice Work and blag a free place in Bewl 15. Awesome running all and I’m glad a few of you found the guide helpful.

Km 1: Target Pace +0:20 – (Actual Pace +0:10)
Km 2: -0:15 (-0.11)
Km 3: +0:30 (+0:16)
Km 4: -0:10 (-0:11)
Km 5: -0:15 (-0:08)
Km 6: +0:30 (+0:24)
Km 7: +0:20 (+0:13)
Km 8: +0:15 (+0:03)
Km 9: +0:10 (-0:07 DOH!)
Km 10: -0:10 (-0:06)
Km 11: +0:05 (-0:06)
Km 12: +0:05 (0:00)
Km 13: -0:10 (-0:15)
Km 14: +0:15 (+0:07)
Km 15: -0:15 (-0:07)
Km 16: -0:25 (-0:21)
Km 17: -0:20 (-0:06)
Km 18: -0:15 (-0:06)
Km 19: +0.05 (-0:04)
Km 20: -0:05 (-0:02)
Km 21 -0:15 (+0:05)