Events Blog

March 20th 2016 Half Marathon Painful finish! ((C)Mich Hall) A week's skiing, snowboarding, eating and drinking (the latter two very well, the first two not so well) do not make for great half marathon preparation. Add a weekend of flu into that and that is how I arrived at Stafford Half. Luckily most of the flue symptoms had gone away by the time I came to the race, but I still couldn't run more than a few hundred metres without my chest letting me know it was present and struggling. I therefore entered the start funnel feeling understandably pessimistic, and placed myself just behind the "2 hours" mark, thinking "maybe, if I'm lucky!". I set off at the average pace from my last half, rapidly overtaking a large number of people. Until about 5 miles in, I felt surprisingly OK. The little out and back around a housing estate (the one switchback on the course) had not been as long as expected, and I managed a little wave to Jenny, a friend w...

February 28th 2016 Half Marathon Returning to familiar scenery to do a race always has that comforting factor to it. A happy coincidence here was that the Cambridge Half Marathon correlated with Lent Bumps weekend, so I spent the Saturday up and down the river watching Sidney Sussex Boat Club do their thing. Somehow, this amounted to 14 miles of walking, so along with my 2 mile run in the morning this was not quite the "rest day" I had had in mind! I also ended up running a mile or so to the start of the race, not through time pressure but just to keep warm as it was only a few degrees in the morning. The start area was on midsummer common which was spacious and scenic however I was pleased the ground was not wet. After my obligatory two toilet trips I lined up in my pen and waited for the race to start - which it did, nice and promptly. I must have started within five minutes of the gun, which, being the third pen back, I was impressed with. Less nice was the imme...

March 1st 2015 Finished! Half Marathon This was an undulating half marathon based in Coventry. The organisation was a bit questionable. For instance, they lined us up in three start pens (< 1:45, 1:45-2:00, >2:00) but then let all start pens start at the same time, rather than letting one out completely then starting the next. What was the point? Also, I don't eat/drink during a half, but had I wanted to, a feed station halfway up the last mile-long hill would not have been appreciated! Saying that, the course was generally quite nice, going right out into the countryside. It was a long slog up to the 8 mile mark and after that it was generally downhill, apart from a painful out-and-back around 9 miles. I had to sprint the last 5 miles to get under 2 hours, but it was totally worth it for the PB. I had high expections for my "Premium" goodybag - don't be fooled! It had in it a packet of crisps and a cereal bar... But the medal is reasonably nice. ...

March 2nd 2014 Cambridge Boundary Run is a race run by the university running club - the Cambridge Hare and Hounds. It is a circular marathon, with a stop at the halfway point for those doing the half. My motivation for entering was threefold: Cambridge is flat, it was cheap (£12) and I needed a half marathon before the Edinburgh Marathon in May 2014. To prepare for this race, I read loads of stuff on the internet, about what foods to eat and when, how to taper and what to wear. I think this caused me to get everything wrong, in future I'm going to stick with what's familiar, even if that means no carbs the night before, a short run two days before and tight lycra! Race day came and I felt awfully nervous and sick, more than ever before. I'm not sure why as I've run half marathons before (although not for a long time) and had done a 13 mile training run two weeks before. Managing just two mouthfuls of toast (which I never normally eat anyway) for breakfast is n...