Half marathon - any one doing one?

[Cherryminx]

There was a thread last year which I looked at in admiration as I struggled through C25K and then went on to run a 10K. So I can hardly believe that in a fit of madness I've signed up for a half Marathon in May.

Training starts tomorrow! Would anyone like to join me?

Good luck fiftynine and chutney! Will be thinking of you tomorrow. A month to go till mine cherry. Got to do 10 miles this weekend.

I'm wibbling for all I'm worth now! Going to get my kit together now so at least that's all done. Drove past some of the mile markers this afternoon.....

Good luck tomorrow FiftyNine.

Weather supposed to be OK but I'll believe it when I see it.

11 miles in the bag, only one visit to the loo! It was the 2 miles on 0.5 miles off session I talked about upthread.

My legs are really tired now and stiff but I was v pleased with the time and found having a Garmin very helpful. Have realised that when you are tired it can feel like you are running v slow when in fact you are going along at an ok.

What time do your races kick off chutney and 59?

Well done Cherry 11 miles is fab! Sounds like your tummy troubles are lessening a bit, have you done anything different?

We start at 9:30 tomorrow, I am going round to DS's for about 8/8:15 am and we are walking down to the start for our warm up - he reckons he does it in 20 mins, but that is when he's hurrying to lectures. We're supposed to be there for 9:00 for baggage drop and to find our pens (he's in a faster zone than I am). Just pinned my bib on my top and put the baggage tag on my bag .

chutney I will be thinking of you tomorrow

Good luck with the 10K tomorrow emummy for you too

DH will be slow roasting a shoulder of lamb for my return home tomorrow

Good luck chutney and FiftyNine !
Eating breakfast, race starts at 11 but is an hour and a half away on wiggly country roads so leaving at 8:15.

That's great CherryMinx. You're going to be so well prepped. I completely agree with you on the Garmin. I'm better than I was a judging my pace and wouldn't worry too much at parkrun if I'd didn't have it but definitely for longer runs. Definitely helps keep me going when I realise it's not as bad as I thought.

to you too FiftyNine and best of luck to your DS too - he'd probably think a random high five from a MNer a bit weird!

Best of luck to you too emmumy, fingers crossed for good weather with a view like that in promise.

We start at ten. It's not too far away, we virtually come past our house during it. DH is going to take it easy at the start so will be in the slower pen with me, which is good. Weather looking ok but frosty morning so will have to watch the odd shady bits at the roadside which might be a bit slippy. But sunny and not hot. I'll take that, need all the help I can get

Ooh excited for you all running today! Good luck!!

I'm meeting my super fit gym bunny friend to do 10 miles this morning. I've told her I need to take it slow and she's not really a big runner so I hope it'll be ok.

Looking forward to the HM reports later!

emummy - just looked at pics of your race from last year. Looks lovely. Hope its nice weather.

I did it! It hurt, but I did it!

I was just over 2:30, which given the hills, my sore foot and not having run for 2 weeks I was happy with. The hills were awful, the first 5 miles were al uphill (I heard people behind me saying that it was more efficient to walk than run one of them as it was a 14% incline Everytime I got to the brow of a hill there was another one, so my first five were quite very slow. The downhill bits were better, but even then it was still undulating and even the last mile had 2 hills. I could feel something rippling in my calf for the last couple of miles so didn't push it too hard for the finish.

The support all around the course was AMAZING, lots of shouting and cheering and encouragement, people handing out jelly babies and children giving high fives and great marshals, I would do it again just for that and to beat my time Once you were at the top the views of the Peak District were spectacular.

DS1's friend finished in under 2, and DS1 in 2:02 (he was complaining of a recurrence of a shoulder problem).

DH was out with DS2 when I got home, but there is the most amazing smell coming from the over

chutney and emummy I hope your races went well.

The hills sound dreadful but at least you got good views to make up for it. Well done, lots of grit to do that with a sore foot.

My official time hasn't come through yet but the Garmin said 2.21, so I was thrilled. It was quite warm in the end, but beautiful out. I managed the first half ok but could feel myself tiring so did a run/walk from there. I had enough let for a good push in the last mile, overtook a few people then so that felt good. Only a few supporters in the villages as we went through, but that did include my DC so that was a plus. Slightly chaotic start and finish - I didn't even know we'd started. But very much enjoyed it, would definitely do more. DH is less convinced at the moment.

How'd you get on emummy?

chutney that's absolutely brilliant! Well done

Well done FiftyNine and chutney, sounds like you both did really well, feet up and cake tonight!
Great day for me. Weather was ok, some rain but still able to see the hills. I got a pb, first ever sub-60! I didn't think I would, first 5k was largely uphill and I did it in 31 minutes so decided to go for it and push and it worked, got a time of 58:37, which I still can't believe! Previous pb was 62:15, so very pleased, especially with the 26 minute-ish second 5k.
Not a race to do if you need crowds of supporters, we had about 30 overall, plus 3 horses and a herd of cows! But lovely atmosphere and settling, was a good day and the drive to get there over the mountains was brilliant.
So well done to us all, wine time!

Well done fiftynine and chutney!!
Thanks for all the tips on jackets and bin bags.
I'm trying to turn my weekend run into my long run, 6k today. Only went out twice this week as I wasn't feeling too well.

Congrats emummy on sub-60 for your 10k!

emummy that's fantastic, especially over that terrain!

Here are some pretty pictures from my garmin

Well done, fifty I did Sheffield too, it was great, someone asked if I was a celebrity as I was getting so many cheers, just happened to going through the neighborhood of the school I work in, the streets were lined with people the whole way.

Well done mudandmayhem it was great wasn't it!

I've done a few HMs in my time but this was the best one I've ever done for support all around the route.

Brilliant emummy! I was surprised by the level of interest cows took in our HM. One herd belted over the stare just after the start and we kept seeing them peering over hedges all the way round.

Crikey FiftyNine that looks intense. Even more well done!

Fantastic 59 and chutney and emummy & mudandmayhem

59 your hills sound like hard work. chutney yours sounds a bit like mine's gonna be as it'll just be DH and DD in my support crew and suspect they'll be lurking near the cafes in town at the start and finish.

I've been checking MN all day to see if you all got round so v exciting and some great times. Hope you are all enjoying wine and yummy Sunday dinners.

Well done 59, chutney, emummy and mudandmayhem!

Mine isn't until the end of May (and it will be my 1st HM) but I think I might sign up for another one in October. I am quite enjoying the training. 11 miles today and 2 mins faster than my time on the same route 2 weeks ago. I didn't get any shorter runs in this week unfortunately. DD had a tummy bug and was also teething so I was using my evenings to catch up on sleep rather than getting out for a run. Hopefully I will get in a tempo run and possible some hill sprints this week ...

Well done everyone! fifty and mud that's sounds like a tough HM. Great time chutney!

Did my 10 mile in 1hr39, chatted the whole way round so the pace was slow but that's what I needed. Will try the same route again next week without the talking! Suffered with my bowels towards the end though, annoying as I thought I was getting away with it.

Well done again everyone!!!

Igotta that doesn't sound very slow to me.

Wonder who's HM is next. Mine is mid May (5 weeks - yikes) & Lady C is same day as me but in sunny Sydney . Anyone before that?

4 miles for me tonight. Legs still a bit achy from Sat. Have quite an intense session tomorrow but might try to sneak it in on way home from work.

I have my trail 15 miles on April 24th, up early this morning to fit in a run before dd2's hospital appointment.

Hope the run and the rest of the day goes well emummy. Is it a very undulating trail? Sounds fun, bet the scenery will be good up your way.

I was a bit nervous CherryMinx, like we've said before they seemed fast HM that we've gone for. But in practise it meant I got into some space within minutes and wasn't dodging round or getting overtaken much and could settle into my pace early on. The distances you and Jaggy are getting up to with a few weeks to go sound great. I am so glad I went for that last ten miles a couple of weeks back, it made all the difference to how I tackled Sunday.

Igotta my last ten miles was 1.45 and I got that far nearly bang on on Sunday as well. It'll be interesting to see how you get on with a repeat.

Plan for me now is a few 10ks over the next few months and get my time down on those. I'm definitely going to sign up for the Robin Hood HM in September. So hopefully that'll all work together for a faster time.

How's your foot feeling FiftyNine?

They don't mention undulating chutney, it's more steep climbs they talk about! Think it's flattish, then steep hill at 8 miles into foothills of Lochnagar, then another nasty hill at 14 miles. What fun!