Advice
My First Half Marathon
18 October, 2011
My first half marathon – the Royal Parks Foundation – how I did it
If you had told me a year ago that I would be find myself running along the Mall on a beautiful Sunday morning with 12,500 other half marathoners, I would have said ‘no way’.
Running a half marathon was definitely not part of my life plan. It had taken my long enough to start running in the first place, and then finding out about my local running club, Metros, and finally getting up the courage to go along that first Monday evening…
Having done a couple of 10K’s over the last two years and finding that challenging enough, I guess I was subconsciously looking for the next way to punish myself, but I have always doubted my running abilities.
Anyway, in a moment of madness I applied to the ballot for the Royal Parks Half Marathon this year hoping I wouldn’t get a place, and then I did. My heart sunk.
Would I run for charity? I work for research and support charity Parkinson’s UK, so I could have told everybody about it and started fundraising. But, ….what if I couldn’t go the distance? So, I decided to tell a select few what I was doing and just immediate colleagues.
And then there were the scary training plans that I downloaded. How was I going to run four times a week, and do strength training as well…and find time to eat? I managed three runs a week at most, and the longest was 11 miles. Doing the long weekend run on my own with only Audiofuel on my mp3 for company was tough.
On Sunday 6 October at 9.30am I found myself lining up in Hyde Park at the start line. There were so many of us it took around 15 minutes just to cross the threshold. It was a beautiful morning. The Royal Parks Half Marathon route was wonderful, with trees putting on their finest autumn colours. I couldn’t believe that I was running through well known parts of London like Westminster Bridge, Whitehall and along the Serpentine.
Thankfully, it was a flat run, and although there were lots of runners there was plenty of space. A plentiful supply of water and Lucozade was supplied, and lots of cheering and encouragement from spectators.
I realised at mile 10 that I was going to make it to mile 13. The sense of achievement when I finished in 2.28.58 and saw my partner’s proud face was amazing. The bamboo t-shirt and eco friendly wooden leaf shaped medal were also a nice touch. Registration for next year’s race opens in January 2012 – go on, you know you want to.
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