At a certain point I thought this race was one episode of the Tv series Disaster Date on MTV . I was set up on a blind date with this "hot" and "mean" half-marathon girl, the jokes were getting worse and worse but at least at the end I expected the reward of the 92 euros for lasting 92 minutes, but when the RD didn't say: "those are hidden cameras and these people are paid actors" I realized that it was just a hot race and nothing else. This is the closest race to my home (just 3km), I run on the course every weekend throughout the year and also every day from march until october, this is my home race. I arrive at the start with just 20 minutes to spare, and the thermometer in the car in the shade indicated 26°C. At the starting line packed with other 1200 runners we were all already sweating. My plan was to start at 4:10/km and then half way reevaluate my conditions. Unfortunately by km5 keeping 4:10 was no longer realistic without a major crash at the end, the sun was hot there was no shade and my pace started slowing down and this was the easiest part of the race, the flat one. Half way I was already 1:20 behind my goal, I decided to do everything possible to keep the pace under 4:30 and for the next two kms was still doable (it was slightly downhill) then the first hill arrived and all my dreams crashed at 4:40/km from that point on I was in survival mode/mood. I finished in 1:32:30, my slowest HM time during the last 5 years. I am not too depressed about the outcome everybody had a 4-5 minute slower time, this training cycle since january is solid, this race it will be a great motivator for the upcoming marathons hoping that this heat will finally stop. These are my splits (as usual per km): 4:17, 4:10, 4:06, 4:11, 4:10, 4:15, 4:14, 4:19, 4:12, 4:30, 4:24, 4:26, 4:47, 4:29, 4:36, 4:40, 4:38, 4:38, 4:39, 4:35, 4:05, final 20". | 