For a start, when I have run half marathons before, it has been the culmination of months of training specifically for that half marathon. So, there has been a feeling of nervous excitement before, a sense of taking it all in and enjoying the occasion during, and a wave of euphoria at the finish at having achieved my goal!
This one was essentially a training run for me. A warm up before London. However, warm was the last thing I felt on Sunday!!!!
You see, it was a pretty miserable day weather-wise. In fact that may actually be understating the conditions somewhat. I have seen the official photographs of me, and lets just say I won't be sharing them with anyone (the term 'drowned rat' comes to mind!) so I will leave you with these pictures I found which pretty much sums it up....
I have been training in some pretty miserable conditions this year, but I have to say the race on Sunday topped the list of the coldest and wettest run so far. I think I would even have preferred snow, as at least then I wouldn't have been so wet!
I made my way to the start with 15 minutes before kick off. Whilst walking from the stadium to the start line, the heavens opened in a big way, and so when I lined up between the 2hr25 pacer and the 2hr30 pacer I was already dripping wet, soaked to the skin. I felt strangely calm and serene, which is unusual for me at the moment and I have to say was a really nice feeling. I smiled to myself as I caught a whiff of that smell you always get at the start of a race - Deep Heat!! The usual warm-up routine started, with thousands of people, the majority wearing bin bags in a vain attempt to keep dry, all jigging about waving arms in the air and generally having a bit of a laugh. A few minutes passed, and the rain turned to sleet. We all began to huddle closer and closer together as any heat the warm-up had generated was lost to the atmosphere. I tried to roll my sleeve up to set my Garmin and realised I couldn't feel my fingers or hands, and when I did a little check I realised I couldn't feel my toes either! We heard the race start up front, and gradually we edged our way forwards with the usual walk a bit-jog 3 steps-hop over the discarded bin bag-stop-walk a bit routine until finally about 20 minutes later, the crowd opened up, we broke into a jog and across the line we went.
I found Sui shortly after joining the A33. Sui definitely deserves some special mention in this blog - what a star she was to come and join me running in those conditions! I am truly blessed with some wonderful family and friends who I would be completely lost without!
Somewhere between two and three miles in, not too long after the first hill, I decided to take my windproof top off. Not that I was overly warm, but it was quite clingy in the wet and I had warmed up enough to just about feel my hands again so thought it a good idea. The rain had also eased a little and I was optimistic it might just hold off. With this being my third time running this particular half marathon, I was looking forward to the obligatory bursts of the Rocky Theme Tune, however there was strangely no sign of it this year! There was however, still a band playing on the way into the University, shortly before my first walk for water. There was a lot of support in this little loop which was much appreciated, as the rain had started to fall again. I have to say, in spite of the weather there were still a fair few hardy souls who had stuck it out and were there to cheer us runners on throughout the whole course (and a few bemused shoppers!). Not as many as previous years, but who can blame them eh! I remember pelting it down the lovely long downhill that takes you to the A4, then running down the road past The Knob Shop and there was loud music blaring out of one of the shops, and lots of people dancing on the street and cheering us on. From there to the underpass on the IDR, and the steel band were in their usual place under the bridge - the sound was so loud and invigorating! I remember the 10k marker, whilst heading through the back of the town centre, and thinking that I felt pretty good for halfway, in spite of the fact that the rain was coming down so heavy that I could blow the drops off my nose and no amount of wiping the water out of my eyes was helping! From here the next landmark is Russell Street, which is the last proper hill of the course and comes around 8 miles in. The Nags Head had their usual table out with beer for the runners, although the table was quite empty - I guess a lot of earlier runners had been partaking! I ran up the hill and felt much better than I have in previous years, although I was getting so cold (there was a short sharp shock of hail) that shortly after getting to the top I made the decision to put my windproof back on. When I moved my arms to untie it from around my waist, I realised that my arms and hands were so cold, they had stiffened and I was really struggling. Then when I managed to get the windproof over my head, the wet fabric clinging to my already soaked top made it nigh-on impossible. I wrangled for a little while and eventually managed to get the damned thing on - but at the expense of my race number, which was so sodden it couldn't cope with the strain and fell off. So that was folded up and put in the jacket pocket (it had the timing device on it so I needed to keep it to record an official time). From here on there was a slight lull, both in the rain and in the support. It is a bit of the course that I always seem to forget, running along the Tilehurst Road to Prospect Park, then on to the A4. I do remember this year a lovely lady offering out a bag of sweets, and I gladly took one! This takes you up to 10 miles, and shortly after that you find yourself running down the A33. This is a particularly cruel part of the race usually, as for most of the way down the A33 you can see the Stadium and the Windmill, which mark the finish point. They seem so close and yet so far when you have almost three miles still to go! However on Sunday, there was no such teasing - the one benefit of the inclement weather was that neither landmark was visible until you were practically on top of them! Although I do still maintain that making the last mile of the course a loop back into Green Park and out again, when you are so close to the stadium it feels like you can touch it, is very cruel!!! Which is not to mention that the last stretch to the finish line involves running uphill into the stadium! At this point I had to leave Sui, as with no race number she couldn't come into the stadium. I stumbled my way in and it was with the usual joy that you enter the stadium to run a quarter of a lap to a rapturous round of applause from all of the supporters waiting in the stands! It is a feeling like no other, and always spurs me on into a little sprint!
My Garmin recorded a distance of 13.23 miles in 2 hours, 34 minutes and 47 seconds (I should knock a few seconds off mind you, because my numb fingers hadn't turned the Garmin off the first time I tried). The official chip time is 2 hours, 34 minutes and 39 seconds. A PB, and I truly believe that on a better day weather wise, I potentially could have knocked another couple of minutes off that.
The funniest moment for me was when I saw my niece afterwards and showed her my medal, and she asked me if I had won. I explained that I hadn't, so she persisted and asked me if I had come second, third or even fourth. It was tricky explaining to a 5 1/2 year old the concept of running a race where 'winning' is achieved just by 'finishing'. Maybe one day when she's a little older she will understand, and will hopefully be proud of her old Auntie!
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