I ran my first half marathon on Saturday and having finally regained use of my legs I'm ready to share the harrowing 13.1 miles with you!
The race was held at Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire and there were about 600 runners. It was a scorching day for September in Scotland, about 20 degrees! Unfortunately I was still recovering from a bad cold but didn't want to throw away months of training so decided to run anyway.
I was running with my mum and sister-in-law and there was a moment of panic when we all realised we needed the toilet 10 mins before the start of the race. There was a massive queue for the portaloos so I legged it to the toilets in the castle cafe. Gave a few guys in kilts a shock when I ran into the male toilets "this is the laddies, toilets not the lassies" I just averted my eyes and told them I was in a hurry!
Managed to get back to the start line with a few minutes to spare and was already sweating from the heat. Anyway off we went up the first hill of many along the grounds of the castle until we were out onto the tarmac road. The entire course was mostly along quiet country roads with a few off road parts. The first 4 miles went fairly quickly and this was where the first water station was, being such a hot day it was a life saver since I decided not to carry any of my own water. I walked at the water stations because I don't have the running while drinking skills.
The one thing I wasn't expecting was the amount of hills, it was NOT a flat course and I hadn't factored in many hills in my training so after about 7 miles I started walking up any large hills. It probably didn't slow me down much since I was getting my breath back instead of pushing myself to run and slowing down. I was struggling with my breathing and couldn't breath out of my nose at all, making my mouth very dry. I took some jelly beans as fuel but these seemed to give me a stitch (one disaster after another!) I ended up throwing them away at about 9 miles.
Last water station at 10 miles and was told "not far to go now!". I got to 11 miles and was feeling not great but ok until I came to another damn hill. This is when my legs decided to give up the ghost and no matter how much I willed them to go faster they refused, more and more people kept over taking me and it felt like I was in last place at one point since there was nobody else in sight. Brain felt like mush and pain in my legs and knees was slowing me down to a very slow shuffle. Finally at about 12 miles I could hear the tannoy of the race commentator and knew I just needed to put one foot in front of the other. Came back into the castle grounds and there was a nice grassy bit to run on at the finish, my knees were grateful! My time was a slightly disappointing 2:41:53, but I have never been so glad something was over in all my life!
My conclusion is: running is bad for you! If you had asked me after the race if I'd like to do it again I would have swore and told you I'm never running again never mind another half marathon! I don't think I will ever run a full marathon but having had a few days to reflect I think maybe I will try again when I'm in full health with a bit more training. There is talk of the Edinburgh half in May but I'm not convinced yet!
Here is the Endomondo results for you statistic fans 
Half marathon 
Conwy Half Marathon
Cheltenham Half Marathon next weekend - EEEEKKKKK!
Looking back over my first month of Marathon training
