Anne Widdecombe ?

Anne Widdecombe isn’t mentioned again in this blog. Yes i did watch some of the ‘Strictly pairing off’s.
But could some of the contestants ever run a half marathon? Some could. Some couldn’t.
Today I ran a half marathon with about 1200 other people. The Lake Vyrnwy half Marathon.
Running is wonderful.
Running in races is great. To run in a race that’s very well organised, in beautiful countryside, with good company is the tops.
I ran a personal worst of 2hrs 10minutes for a half marathon- but that’s ok, because running a good time for me was NOT the purpose today.
Today was for my pals Ph. and P.. It was their first ever half marathon, and I had 2 objectives
1 to help Ph. and P. around their first half marathon
2-enjoy the day.
Mission accomplished.
After arriving at the start nice and early, early enough to even visit the loo Twice- Runners will know how early this is:-). We chatted with other runners, lapped up the atmosphere, club runners, and others. We made our way to the start, on the hill near the village. A slow jog through the start (i missed where it was – 1st garmin error!) then up hill slowly to the Dam. Along the dam and then into the rolling countryside around the lake.

Another Pal -S. – left us at a pace ahead , then we plodded around the lake chat, run chat run.
Do you know how many cool coloured running shirts there are for ladies?- we were trying to find a better one than the orange one P. was wearing with pride for the Multiple Sclerosis Society- a very worthwhile cause – but P. didn’t think orange was her colour.
So that was a mission for us- find a better colour, lime green or pink , now which one came from Aldi?
In what seemed no time at all we were at half way, at the far end of the lake, and past 2 water stations, and looking forward to a gel and then water at 9miles then a joglet to the finish ?
My Garmin went a bit haywire at mile 6, - the runners in front wanted to let us pass – as they heard i said we’d run a 5minute mile !! We certainly didn’t run faster than 9minute miles :-).

Jelly babies – great stuff – 2 or 3 were consumed between miles 3 and 6. P. had a slight problem – she unfortunately dropped a gel at the start , and not a good idea to pick it up – risk of being trampled! So one gel left – so we all looked forward to a gel at around 7.5miles.
Gels new experience for some , not for others. The water station at 9 seemed to be at 10miles,

After the water station the party was getting a bit tired, hey it is hard to run 9 miles and more. We’d caught up with S. , i think she was slowing down to see where we were after her earlier spurt.

Sorry S. – I couldn’t help you along – you seemed to be in the zone, well done on your time and finishing.
The finish – great , DOWNHILL from the dam, then we could hear the tannoy at the finish, and how great for S. And P. To have family at the finish.
And P.& Ph. Were excited to find the race T shirt for purchase. I was doubtful about the need to buy a race T Shirt – runners will know , we collect a few. However this one is special, a surprise , like my LAKE VYRNWY 2004 Marathon shirt it had runners names on the back – a must , well done organisers.

My Route is here, including pace at various miles , though there is an obvious GPS error at mile 6 & 7, we didn’t run up to 1400ft, or run sub 9minute miles :-).

The results are now up at this link.


We had some great pre-and post race photos, but if were running in the Great North for example - we could have had an official photo of the 3 of us finishing side by side, and been fleeced by the cost of it !

Suggestions - look at your race, your time at various stages. How did it feel then ? How enjoyable was it? How could you do better? Should you have carried some water? Gels , different kit?

But overall we should celebrate achievement, and fitness – now how can we encourage others.