Hey Run Maker crew, 

Alistair from The Run Maker (therunmaker.com) here, fresh off the WA Masters Athletic Club Half Marathon on August 17, 2025, at Jeff Joseph Reserve, Applecross Foreshore.

I was pumped to tackle this scenic 21.1K, aiming to beat my 1:25 half marathon PB from Bibra Lake’s flat course a couple of years ago. 

Here’s how it went down…

My coach threw me into this race last-minute, despite my training focusing more on speed with Hyrox coming up. The plan was to hold a steady 4:00 min/km pace on the Applecross But, as usual, I felt good (too good) and went out pretty hot at 3:50–3:55 min/km.

By kilometer 14, I paid the price. A stiff(ish) headwind, weak long-run conditioning, and poor nutritional prep (note to self: carb-load properly!) tanked my pace to 4:20+ min/km for KMs 14–16. My coach, meanwhile, was out front winning the race! 

I rallied for the final 2K, hitting 4:00 min/km to finish in 1:26:53 on Strava, snagging fifth place but missing my PB. Lesson learned: respect the distance and stick to the plan.

Takeaways: 

More long runs, better fuelling and pacing discipline are my focus now. The Masters Athletics WA Club event was a blast open to runners 30+ with 5.5K/10.5K options. 

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Keep running,

Alistair Chegwidden

@Chegitout | #TheRunMaker