Firstly, can I take the opportunity to thank everyone that sponsored me - between us we raised a total of £182!
The organisation of the event was excellent, my thanks to the organisers of the event and the many groups that manned the water stops, the safety marshalls, route marshalls etc.
Well the training paid off - and I managed to complete the time in under 2 hours - my “chip time” was 1:56.57. The official “gun time” was 2:04.54 - with thousands of runners taking part the difference was the time between the gun going off and me actually crossing the start line! There is a more accurate timing mechanism used in the races now - each runner wears a chip either strapped to their ankle or laced into their shoe and this is registered when the runner crosses a line. Crossing the start and finish lines will record their “proper” time.
I should also congratulate Patrick Makau and Liz Yelling who managed to set the new course records - Patrick ran 61.19 and Liz 69.35; Jolly well done! Huzzah!
The run itself was really quite nice. I managed to pick up a “pace strap” before I started - a very useful strip of paper that listed the split times for each mile - so I could see how my pace was (without doing the mental calulations that I used to do). This provided me with a small boost at each mile.
The numbers taking part (this is now reckoned to be the second largest half marathon in the UK) I was surprised that over the distance there wasn’t a mile that didn’t have some bunching - sheer numbers rather than tactical advantage. Normally after a few miles the runners space out and you can settle into your own pace; this didn’t seem to happen. This certainly meant that I was kept on my toes! For the first 7 miles I saw a sponsorship T-shirt ahead that I could focus on - so, “Bron” thank you. When we got to the Water point I remember running past, and I didn’t see the back of the T-shirt again.
At just over ten miles I saw the massacre. Unfortunately I didn’t see the trays of Suicide Jelly babies until I ran past and my shoe crushed the head of a Yellow Baby; I saw a Green one roll to one side just avoiding a shoe - but instead rolled too far and its legs were crushed by another shoe. The look of anguish was too much… I just had to put it out of its misery. I just hope that I can put the horror behind me… actually I can say that I have and I’m still a committed Jelly Baby Eater!
At 11 miles the distance started to get to me. There was a very welcome water point just at the 12 mile point, which lifted me enough to get down the Green Park stretch. Then it was up into the Madejski stadium and round to the finish. What a relief to see that I had beaten the time that I had set myself!
I hope that all those who were running to raise funds will be successful in collecting their monies - I was really quite warmed to see so many people showing that they were raising funds to assist others (and I suspect there were a great many more that were also raising funds, but weren’t displaying so - like myself)
So… onto the next challenge….
) is a nippy four year old, in black. Already seeming to be more friendly (and quiet!) than the PT Cruiser, I suspect that we will have many adventures together… if I can get Sue out of the driving seat !
