Cardiff Half Marathon

Yesterday was a bright and early start at 5:30am which is not something I plan on getting used to. After a quick breakfast Greg, Karsten, and myself piled into the car and drove over to Cardiff and into the city centre. We were all there to run in the Cardiff Half Marathon (13.1m/21km). I had been dreading the run for the prior few weeks but once we arrived I was full of energy and really looking forward to the race. I had a goal of beating my previous time of 1hour 42min 22 sec which I got in the Bristol Half Marathon back in August. I started a lot further up in line this time thinking that starting at the 2 hour mark last time slowed me down a little.

The course was brilliant and took us all over Cardiff city centre, Cardiff Bay, past the millennium stadium, into a huge park, and ended in the middle of Cardiff Castle. The first 7miles seemed to fly past and I was making really good time. I ran into my friend Greg at the 7mile marker and we ran the rest of the course side by side pushing each other to keep going and keep the pace up. I have been training with Greg quite a bit over the last few weeks and we constantly push each other further each time.


We hit the 10 mile marker just past 1hour 7min and then we both became really tired and a bit dizzy. Heading into the park to do 4 laps up and down was not a pretty site as you can really tell how far you have left to go. With one mile left I turned up the pace, put my head down, and just pushing on through. I have never been so happy to see the end of a race in my life. After crossing the line I looked up at the clock hoping that I beat my previous time to see a clock time of 1 hour 34min and 28 sec meaning I was the 427th person to cross the line out of 6000. My official chip time put me at 1hour 33min 56 sec (446th place). If you are interested in what each means then just check back a few entries to the Bristol Half Marathon for a explanation of each. Well needless to say I was incredibly happy with this time although I was more focused on trying to breathe properly at this point. The highlight though was the incredible medal with a carving of Cardiff Castle on it which as Kelly pointed out made my day as I am somewhat obsessed with castles. The goody bag at the end was full of snacks, lucazade energy drink, t shirt, and cans of soup. Can’t complain over that. The only thing I didn’t like about the race the fact that after we were done there was one small gate to leave through (been a castle and all) and it took 45min for me to get out onto the street. Apart from that it was a great day out.

Today my legs are aching but apart from that I feel great. Its going to be a few months now until the Bath Half Marathon and the London 10km run but the training will continue all the way up to that point. I might take a 2 week break starting tomorrow though as I am off to South Africa and Botswana for 2 weeks tomorrow night. I am sure there will be plenty of photos and entries up here on the blog upon my return at the end of October.