Swaledale Road Runners

On Sunday the 20th November I travelled down south to take part in the St Neots Riverside ½ Marathon with my dad and my brother. I'd entered a while ago and even though my training and general well being wasn't what I'd hoped I decided to go anyway; after all, there was a free t-shirt!

The morning dawned misty and freezing. Despite this, I doggedly donned my club vest without thermals after my brother's encouraging comments ("For heaven sake. It is a race!") And as the mist began to lift I was quite glad I'd minimised layers. The course was a marvellously flat figure of eight through the villages of Abbotsley and Waresley. I'm sure the country setting was gorgeous but in the mist it was all a bit eerie. Runners in the mist!

After the first two miles it was clear that my chest wasn't going to cope with the 7.15 minute mile pace my dad was setting, so I resigned myself to hold back and finish rather than burn out. Pulling back to 8 – 8.30 minute miles was much more comfortable and not bad training considering how little distance I've been covering lately. Even so, being beaten by my dad still sucks. At 8 miles my Garmin started beeping incessantly and I decided to turn it of rather than drive myself and others around me completely insane. At that point I really lost track of the race. As it stood I was the only member of the family not to pb that day; my brother coming in 24th place in 1hr 21 and my dad pulling his first sub 1.40 out the bag with 1 hr 39. I toddled in in 517th place with 1.49 (just ahead of the first MV70) which was better than I'd anticipated. 949 runners finished and on a positive note I did beat Darth Vader, Batman and Robin and a man riding a fluffy yellow ostrich. I now just need to get well and then bring on the monkey!