Ok, so I ran this on October 15th 2017, but am only just getting around to blogging about it… why? Well, first of all it was my first half marathon and it really made me realize how tough the distance is, I started a new job and was ill over the winter, so needless to say, I had a lot going on.
The event itself was great; the crowd support was amazing and there was music and live bands around the course. It was a hot day but there were adequate water stations to get me through the course.
My aim for the day was just to get around, but secretly I was hoping that I’d be under the 3 hour barrier. On the day, I managed to cross the line in 2:59:45 official time (2:59:47 on my Garmin), so I was pretty happy with that – especially given my lack of training for the distance.
The course was hillier than I had expected, especially the final hill to the finish line, which of course, is where one of the photographers decided to base himself… none of us looked particularly photogenic at that point!
I was pretty disappointed with the finisher’s medal and t-shirt as they are near identical to the Birmingham 10k ones – the t-shirt is red instead of blue.
All in all, it was a well-organized and well supported event, but my lack of training really hampered my performance. The event also made me have serious doubts over my ability to run the London Marathon in 6 months’ time (22nd April 2018).
Splits:
Photos:
Video:
