However, I really wasn't in the mood for running and very nearly abandoned the idea completely! Thankfully I gave myself a stern talking to and did run!
I was exceptionally tired as the day before the race I had taken my daughter down to Reading University which is a 500 mile round trip which came after several hectic evenings helping her pack all her worldly goods as well as working and marathon training!
After a late night the previous night I wanted to cry when my alarm went off at 6am! I felt absolutely exhausted but forced myself out of bed, got dressed in my running gear straight away before I changed my mind and had porridge for breakfast!
We were greeted in Warrington with beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures for what was to be an excellent day for a half-marathon.
It was about a 15 minute walk from the carpark to the race Head Quarters and the start line which were situated in Victoria park.
It was a good job there were plenty of other runners heading our way as it wasn't clearly signed and not being local we didn't have a clue where we were going!
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When we arrived in the park I joined the long toilet queue, before heading to claim my place at the start! Thankfully this was a chipped event so being near the front wasn't important! I slotted into the '1 hour 45 Min's to 2 hour' estimated finishing time starting zone at around 8.45am ready for the 9am start.
At around 9.50am a lady with a very annoying and shouty voice came over the very loud loudspeaker to do a warm up! She was so loud that a runner actually turned the loud speaker around so we couldn't hear her quite as much! Half way through the warm-up she abruptly stopped her routine and an announcement was made that the start of the race was going to be delayed by around 20 minutes!
Everyone then sauntered away from the starting line! Although it was a lovely bright sunny day it was still chilly at this time of the morning and as everyone had got rid of their outer garments it was a little annoying for everyone to end up cold due to the delay!
Luckily I bumped into a running friend so the time soon passed before we started round 2 of the warm-up!
However, our "starting zone" was so crowded I could barely do toe taps without risking doing knee lifts or arm stretches!
I don't think I have ever experienced such a crowded start in any of the races I have run in to date and was relieved when we started running at around 9.15am, some 15 minutes late!
I think one of the main problems was it was a joint start for both a 10K and a Half Marathon run which followed the same route for the first 2 miles or so before splitting! I think it would have been preferable to have set the Half Marathoners off first and then have a separate start 10 minutes or so later for the 10K runners.
However once we got running it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, I felt really uncomfortable for the first couple of miles as my legs felt heavy and my ankles felt really stiff!
I was worried something was going to "ping" on me as my ankles didn't feel right at all! Perhaps it was with sitting in the same position in the car for most of the day the day before or maybe I had just got too cold as once I got warmed up they seemed to loosen up!
We set off on the roads leading away from Victoria Park and the city centre. The route overall rises in the first half of the race, and we were soon running besides canals and out into the countryside south of Warrington, which made it a nice race for the scenery.
The race directors at the start had said that when the route split the 10K runners would go left and the half marathoners would go right so I purposefully kept to the right side of the pack so that I wouldn't miss the split! There was a Marshall at the said split shepherding people in the right direction but they must have missed a couple of escapee 10K-ers as about half a mile further on I saw them running back! I felt so sorry for them - it was like the run of shame!
By now the sun was shining brightly and it was heating up nicely! The first water station was well signed in advance and came at around 3 miles serving water in bottles with sports caps!
The route was mainly on closed or partially closed country roads or through parks so it was fairly scenic and a nice route with good support as we passed through the villages. My only grumble would be that going through the park the paths were very narrow so passing people became tricky and resulted in enforced slow going!
The first part of the course had a couple of long slight uphill sections but mainly it was flat with some good downhill sections too!
The water station at mile 6 confused me as they had screw cap bottles rather than sports lids like the previous station but it was a hot day so I didn't mind getting the wetting I got whilst trying to run and drink! However, at the following water stations it was back to sports cap bottles!
I didn't stress too much about pace as I knew a PB wasn't on the cards!
However, as I entered the park and headed towards the finish I tried to increase my speed slightly but my ankles felt slightly sore! I was dismayed when I realised that I had to do a circuit of the athletics track before getting to the finish!
I wasn't very impressed! I hate long runs that end up on a track - it is so soul destroying when your legs are like lead and you have to make it right the way round the track before finishing! It seems so close yet so far!
As I approached the finish line the commentator was announcing the names of those finishing and my name was read out! I felt like a proper athlete.
Once I had crossed the finish line I was immediately handed my medal but then I had to join a long queue to get my other goodies and exit!
It would have made much more sense and would have been quicker to bag it all up beforehand and just hand each runner a bag!
So would I do this race again?
After leaving the park I then had a 15 minute walk back to the car - good to loosen up if nothing else!
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