March, April & The Great Welsh Half

Finally, a bit of time off work and the chance to update my blog.  I left it last time after a successful Llanelli Waterside Half Marathon and a PB of 1:50:14 which I was very satisfied with.

It took a week or two to decide on what to do next.  A trip down to London with my son to see the Status Quo "Frantic Four" reunion at the Hammersmith Odeon (or Apollo as they call it these days) followed by a bout of laryngitis (were the two connected?) meant a couple of weeks without a long run and just 20 miles over the two week period but maybe the enforced rest was a good thing?

Getting back to running regularly once the laryngitis had cleared culminated in a 15 mile run over the mountain to

Still smiling at 7+ miles

Ammanford and back (my longest run to date) as well as a couple of other decent long runs in 3 consecutive 20 mile plus weeks and therefore a decision to enter the Great Welsh Half Marathon on April 21st.  The first running of this event as a tag-on to the now annual Full Marathon which was two laps of the same course.

It was of course the same date as the London Marathon which meant a reasonably small field (157 finished the half and 259 the full) and practically no publicity save for local newspapers and radio.  Of course to my mind the BBC seem to think that running only occurs at the London Marathon and the Great North Run - and then only if a couple of newreaders are running.  Indeed, while I have nothing but the greatest respect for those that actually run either of the UK's biggest events, I think its a shame there's so very little coverage of other running events in the UK by the mainstream media as it would certainly go some way to promoting exercise for all wouldn't it? How many more would be encouraged to train for and enter their local 5k, 10k, half or even full marathon if they had a chance of getting their mug on telly? 

And this race proved a well organised event in many ways.  Memorable indeed was the paying tribute to those members of our worldwide running community sadly lost or injured in Boston with a moving and impeccably observed minute's silence before the off as well as the impressive support of the local community doing the marshalling and numerous water stations manned by local scouts together with an impressive collection of swag after the finish line with a tech t-shirt, a trophy each (albeit they all were engraved for the full marathon) and a welcome bag of food and drink.  The only niggle was a bit of crossing over and on-coming runner dodging necessary around the mile 3 turnaround but that wasn't really a big issue given the numbers running.

As for the race itself it went better than I could have hoped.  My aim was to try and match the 1:50 of March's half and if I could, get that PB down into the 1:40s.  I went off a bit quicker this time thanks to the lack of congestion on the traffic free, fairly flat coastal path route, clocking about 8:30 for the first mile and as it turned out that proved to be my only mile over 8 minutes.  The training must be paying off as at 4 miles (when the mp3 player goes on - Iron Maiden's "Maiden England" set for this race!) I was averaging about 7:45 a mile and decided to try to stick at that sort of speed as I felt comfortable.  By 12 miles I knew the PB was well in the bag and pushed to break the 1:40 coming home with a very satisfying chip time of 1:39:32 which put me in 26th place.  I never expected that!

Not so cheerful now eh?  12+ miles

Anyway, once the dust has settled and the aches have all but faded away the decision now is what to do next and it seems to me that I should now be aiming at a full marathon.  So, unless it transpires that I can't get the day off work, I'll be slogging my way around the Welsh Marathon starting and finishing at Tenby on the 14th July.  Wish me luck eh???

Note : Pictures are copyright my wife Steph.  Thanks to her and daughter Katie (and Doug the dog) for the support and the excellent gel station at 7.5 miles!