This is only my perception of the race 5 Days on but I thought if people were thinking about entering Chester this might help.
Prior to Chester I had only done about 5 other organised races and only up to 10k so my experience of events is limited.
Basically I loved every minute of the day, but I know that’s not particularly useful information to help you decided about whether to enter or not 😳😁 so here’s why.
1. Beautiful Route , with lovely town centre ( but a bit hilly), then leading down country lanes into beautiful countryside, farms, fields and meandering lanes.
2. Really good support from people of Chester and general public. Even quieter parts, which seemed like you were in the middle of nowhere , you turned a corner and there would be a car with motivational music blaring and banners and cheers. People out of their houses, some even in their PJs , cheering you on. Little boys playing drums, squirting you with water guns, clattering klaxons, at what seemed every mile.
3. Live music too, I wasn’t at Rock n Roll, that’s this weekend, so was surprised that there were at least 4 live bands , outside pubs on route , playing music for us.
4. Official support was fabulous too. I’m sure there was water at every 2 miles. Manned by various community groups Cadets, Guides, Sports clubs etc. Every water station had so many people working hard and cheering you on. I took tailwind but over sweetened mine so only drank about half and had water , gels and lucozade which was provided.
5. The race angels who were pacers were great and at the ends they came back down the course to cheer the remaining runners on. So many lovely smiley faces telling you you can do it .
6. The start at the race course was a great venue, seemed very well organised and a nice place to be.
7. The amount of photographers and then£15 early bird photo offer was a great deal. I loved everyone of my 15ish photos. There seemed to be photographers everywhere.
8. Finally the goodie bag. And medal . The medal is so chunky it hurts my neck 😁 and we still haven’t eaten all the snacks in the goodie bag.
Things to be a little wary of.
1. It does have more hills than stated , I think. Getting through the town at the beginning and end , there are definitely hills and the last KM is all hill, nothing too bad but after that distance you need to save something to get to the end. It’s really quite flat but not totally.
2. Typical race day traffic. Getting into the race course before 7.30 , when the car park closed, was congested and getting out again after the race took along time.
3. It is partly an out and back , which I absolutely love. Seeing the “elite” runners passing you at your mile 3 and they are at mile 10 , so focused , so fast, is great , but I know some people find that disheartening.
Hope that give people some insight and helps with any decision . In case you haven’t got the general feel of the post 😂 I absolutely loved every minute and would thoroughly recommend that you become one of the 5,000 runners in 2020. I certainly will. 😍😍
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Windsor Autumn Half Marathon
