Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
JamesD
James interesting question. This whole stay at home and keep away from crowds makes me realise how anti social I am anyway.
Me too. DW likes going out once a week or so (not counting her own activities), and I go with her and mildly enjoy the events, but I'd be perfectly happy skipping most of them. I'm on some volunteer group boards and enjoy being with those people, but that's because the work is interesting and we have a common purpose. The park where I run is ideal for me - in an hour's run, I almost certainly will see a dozen familiar faces and people I know and wave to them, maybe speak to a few of them as I pass, which is all the outside social interaction I really need on most days.
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32
Piwi - I've seen many of Seth's reviews, I'll watch this one later. I don't really need any shoes right now.
NZ has just announced that 500+ people events should not happen. So Christchurch is gone, barring a miracle change in the next few months. I'm just hoping that club season can happen, even if the club races are cut down numbers somehow.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
Kcam - I know it’s not your intention, but I find calling it Wuhan virus is both inaccurate and highly offensive.
First, it’s not a Wuhan virus, it’s a global virus. It’s not contained there and it’s not Wuhan (or Chinese) people who are transmitting it.
Second, It feeds sinophobia and xenophobia worldwide.
There is a considerable amount of people amongst us with a lower intelligence level who now want revenge against anything Asian for the virus.
Darkwave - I doubt there are many people who can run a time trial like a race.
It’s just that sometimes there are no races, or you just want a fitness check.
Last time I tried I was roughly 30 seconds faster in a 5K race compared to the time trial.
New Zealand - it looks like being an out of the way Island (and rich) is helping New Zealand to dodge the issue so far. I"m happy to hear that.
me - you guys will not believe how bizarre is waiting in line for the super market with a bunch of people in surgical masks. Very dystopian.
There was no time limit stipulated on this, surprisingly. I suspect what most organisers will do is avoid pulling the pin until they have to commit to further expenditure and then make the call based on whether it's still in force then. Most events have to invest up front to cover traffic management and potentially venue costs etc. but then don't have to spend more until quite close to the race to cover suppliers on the day - so they'll be reluctant to pull the pin too early given they're out of pocket on those up-front costs.
It's also 'advice' rather than anything legally binding, although there would be few organisers brave enough to go against it. Given the extremely small number of reported cases in NZ I still think it's an over-reaction but I'm not Prime Minister.
I'd think most club events should still be fine - they'd be nowhere near 500 for the most part. Any bigger event in the next month is gone - Running Events have already announced that Run Albany and Waterfront HM are moving to August or September (so maybe I'll get to run Waterfront / NZ HM Champs after all!!).
Still not sure about Southern Lakes... will likely find out in the next day or two. They might be just small enough to sneak under the radar, but may not want to run the risk.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Runway5 / National 5k Champs, 16:22, National Masters AG Champ!
Up next: Still working on that...
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Hot Weather Complainer
City 2 Surf is gone. Christchurch unlikely. This sucks, I’m in great shape, grrr.
flavio - I don’t see any issue calling it the Wuhan virus, not that I call it that. Where did Ebola get its name?
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55
Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024 DNF
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
It looks like Jmac will join me in lockdown land. I assume that means absolutely no races at all for a while?
Our plan (me and DW) was to be touring Europe by now. I wonder when the borders will reopen and the lockdowns lifted.
It's my understanding the lockdown is to flatten the curve so the hospitals can catch up with the demand of patients, hopefully that happens in the next few weeks.
I hope I'm wrong... but it will take longer than weeks flavio. I recon until we get a vaccine (October-December?) but they might reopen sooner
PRs since re-started in 2013:
5km: 19:43 (Belfast park run Sep-16) | 10km: 40:16 (Belfast Lagan side 10K Sep-18)
HM: 1:30:09 (Belfast city Half Marathon, September-18) | FM: 3:25:05 (official chip time Belfast city Marathon, May-19, marathon was 0.3/4 longer, original time 3:27:20 for 26.5/6...)
Upcoming races:
???
Xterra West Wind next Sunday is cancelled.
It will be longer than weeks for normal. Vaccine late 2020 is best case.
Let's call it Covid-19 or Coronavirus. Where it originated from does not help.
Correction - Xterra West Wind is still on. But I suspect it will be cancelled.
I think that is overly pessimistic. China is getting back to normal now despite there being no vaccine, admittedly partly due to some very authoritarian state interventions that most democracies would consider highly unconstitutional.
I think September is when we’ll get through to the other side, but some sports leagues and races might be bankrupt by then. The economy will take years to recover
From a running perspective, I hope it's OK by then. Local promoters could survive a few months of event cancellations, particularly if their events aren't in that window... but if it rolls beyond then it's going to hurt the wider sector because people will just stop entering events unless they're absolutely confident they'll go ahead.
Anyway, since Albany Lakes on Sunday got canned, I've decided I'm going to do Hobsonville Point Parkrun on Saturday (assuming it goes ahead...) to try and steal the course record off my clubmate Greg Darbyshire (AKA Darbs). Small victories...
UPDATE: SOUTHERN LAKES HM IS ON!!!!!!! Entries hit 500 and they've closed it at that, knowing that there will be a decent number of no-shows on the day. They're going to do a virtual race briefing and no official prizegiving just to be safe.
This is awesome. Also, I am acutely aware that I owe it to all of you that have had races cancelled to go out there and RUN LIKE IT'S THE LAST DAMN RACE I'LL EVER RUN!!
Great news Mark. I guess they don’t need to factor in supporters to the gathering size? Not that there will be someone there doing a head count
Marco - I think things will reopen much sooner. This virus is only a problem when everybody is sick at the same time.
The number of serious cases is flattening day by day.
There will be a gradual reopening soon. People will grow restless otherwise.
Also, god damn my citizenship process must go forward (selfishly sighs).
I imagine there will be a spike in divorces now that people need to stay at home more and … gasp …. Talk to each other.
Mark - great news with the race.