But I’m not. I have neglected this blog AGAIN! How many times am I actually going to write “I must update this”, “my new resolution is to make sure that I update this blog regularly…” and so on and so on.
Anyway, whilst I remember, here’s a few updates.
I guess the main one is that I completed the Birmingham Half Marathon! I did it in a final time of 3hours and 6 minutes. This was not the time I wanted to finish it in, but it wasn’t bad. The main thing is, I actually finished it!
The most unfortunate thing about it was the fact that on the friday before the race, Sal started to complain of not feeling too well. As both Sal and I were nervous about our first competitive race, I put it down to nerves really. It had also been a tough week for her. As the weekend progressed, she started to feel worse. Saturday came and ended with complaints of a sore throat and temperature, then race day came and she was in a terrible state and definately not fit to run. It ended up being tonsilitus. After months of training (doing really well too), Sal was gutted and not able to run.
So, Nick Clarke and I drove in to Birmingham to start the race on our own. We met up with Nick’s friend Brett (a good runner – made me feel even more nervous!) and found our starting place (towards the back with all the other non professional runners). After the race started at 10.00am, we finally crossed the start line at about 10.20am. I kept up with Nick and Brett for about the first 1.5 miles, but their pace was a little too quick for me, so I wished them good luck and off they went. I decided that if I was going to finish this race, I needed to do it on my own terms and at my own pace. The first 6 miles felt very comfortable to me really. I was doing a good average, with about a 10-11 minute mile, meaning I would come in at an expected finish at 2hours 20 or 2hours 30mins. At 9 miles, I hit my wall good and proper. My groin gave in and I made the fatal mistake of slowing right down to a gentle jog and eventually a walk. This allowed me to cool down and then the muscles started to freeze up. I started to get stiff and the pain REALLY started to kick in. It became VERY painful to walk in the end. The last few miles were a slow walk for me really until I finally saw the finish line and then managed to find the energy to kick through my pain and jogged towards the finish line.
I have learnt from my mistake this time. The race was an amazing experience. I loved every single second of the event and Birmingham did everyone proud. They were superb in their support of the competitors, handing out water and clapping and cheering. I felt really proud to call Birmingham my home city today.
Sal and I have now entered the Silverstone Half Marathon in March 2010, as Sal needs to run a race! You can’t do all this training for nothing can you??! ;-)
Finally, a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who believed in me and contributed to making a fantastic final figure of £605.00 for Cancer Research UK. You have made a massive difference and I am genuinely humbled by your generosity.





