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So today was it, my first half marathon. Training had gone fairly well, I’d managed to do my over the mountain half training several times my best time on that being 1 hour 57 mins roughly. A few days of tapering, which generally meant I felt rubbish and there I was standing on the start line at 8:30am. I finished in 1 hour 48 mins 44 seconds.

I wasn’t as nervous for this race as I was for the Great Wales Run, maybe it’s because I was better prepared, not as well prepared, or just plain stupid! Either way it was good for my stomach.

The race got going at 9am and started off just fine. I planned to run 8:20 minute miles for the whole race. The good thing about 8:20 minute miles is that it makes the maths easy for getting your pacing right. Every 3 miles is 25 minutes! Getting to the one mile marker I checked my watch that read 4 minutes 20 seconds, hmm bugger, something had gone wrong there   It simply meant I had to do a little more maths to work out my pacing but it kept my head busy

As I’ve found in other races I had to spent a good part of the start of the race getting around people who’d started way too far up the field. A little annoying and knackers you out a bit from the quick bursts of speed to get around people.

The race itself was rather nice, good to be across the barage again, although I realised after a bit that I was running on the windward side and acting as a windbreak for so many other people, that said the breeze was nice Support around the bay was good it’s always nice to have people giving a shout. I kept popping a glucose tablet every 3 miles and having a few mouthfuls of water at the water stations.

Heading back up into the town there was lots of supporters outside the stadium and I almost cried when we passed the burger van at the market. Still only another couple of hours and I’d be sitting in a pub enjoying the fruits of my labour. I was hitting my pacing rather well as far as I could tell which I was quite happy about, meaning that I should get in for approx 1 hour 50 minutes, a time I’d be very happy with!

The last mile was fairly crappy due to the stone work on the ground, I tried to run as much as possible on the grass to avoid that problem. Entering the castle grounds for the finishing straight was awesome there were so many people shouting. It gave me a real lift and I picked up speed and managed to sprint across the line, about to puke as I stopped

Nabbed myself a couple of free bottles of lucozade and sat on the bank waiting for Rhianne to run it in. Fair play she managed to finish in 2 hours 31 minutes much better than she had hoped, well done Rhianne! After a long painful walk home (being overtaken by old people I should add) a quick shower and I was in London Pride heaven. All you can eat Tapas at La Tasca and a few more pints of Brains and all was well with the world again…. now just two weeks until the next one

More photos… Cardiff Half Marathon 2007 photos