13.1 Half of Nothing. 100% whole race

[swanscot]

I ran my second Half Marathon race yesterday and really enjoyed it.

Highlights:

A lovely route, about 17km on quiet city streets (mainly residential) and 4km on a quiet country road

A nice wide road to start on so it was easy to find spaces to run into as I passed people and others passed me on the first few kilometres

Great spectators who gave lots of support. Particularly memorable were a bunch of neighbours on a wee street who sat outside on stools playing drums, tin whistles, maracas and tambourines - and gave out cups of water and jelly babies

The marshals were great, especially the young Cadets who gave up their Sunday afternoon and clapped and shouted encouragement.

The final 300m was a part loop of the sports ground running track. It was a wonderful surface to run and I loved the experience and I grinned as I thought myself a proper athlete.

And finally... I managed to complete the run in 02:06:01 and came 1200 out of a field of 1700, and 34 out of 94 in my gender and age category, F50

Not-so-high-lights:

A strong head wind for the first 5km impeded progress and my overall time was 2 mins slower than my first HM, so no PB

Insufficient portaloos meant a huge queue at the last minute when I should have been in my position at the start line

A few more of DH and DS's photos here: flickr.com/photos/swan-scot/

[LightDark Graduate]

Wow - well done, thats a great acheivement and a lovey photo! Fab smile

Am sure you'll ace the PB nest time

I can only dream of a HM at the moment... may be one day...

[swanscot Graduate in reply to LightDark]

I've been thinking about this some more and realise I need to better my 10K race time before worrying about HM times.I'm not going to stress about my time so much at the next HM.

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

Lovely photo and well done. Sounds like you had a really nice day. Love the other photos as well. Happy running.

[swanscot Graduate in reply to Realfoodieclub]

Thanks. After worrying about what too wear (T-shirt or vest? Shorts or capris? Gloves or no gloves?) and about the wind, it did turn out to be a lovely day. Even the rain was refreshing - once it stopped blowing in my face!

[ju-ju- Graduate]

what a fabulous picture...you in your element doing what you love...and wow....fabulous time, particularly given the wind too!!! Well done you!!!

[swanscot Graduate in reply to ju-ju-]

Thank you. I was in my element - despite the elements.

[Jennyh543]

Wow, that's a brilliant time! Respect!

[swanscot Graduate in reply to Jennyh543]

Thanks. I'm happy with the time, considering I nursed a gammy leg in January, so got way behind in training.

[ChrisL Graduate]

Wow, that is a very good time Swanscot. 1hr48 or better age-graded. Congratulations.

[swanscot Graduate in reply to ChrisL]

Thanks. Yes, it's the "or better". At age 54, that's an age graded time of 01:42:44