That’s the Half completed!!

The 13 weeks of well planned training had finally come down to this day (15th september) for the Vale of York Half Marathon.

My standard race day breakfast of wholemeal toast and a banana went down well with a cup of Yorkshire tea to start the day, I changed my plan to wear my STAC vest and opted for the t shirt instead before getting myself ready for Russ to collect me at 0730.

Russ picked me up at Tesco and we made our way to the event, got there a little early which was good as the start of the race was delayed because of traffic, we got our race numbers and relaxed until it was time to get warmed up and near the start line.

The route was pretty scenic and rural as it was mostly the countryside, first 3 miles i integrated myself talking to a runner from Bramley Breezers, standard 5k split at a decent pace up until the first water station at 3.5 miles, took on some water and sprayed a little on my face as it had started to warm up but sun stayed behind the cloud.

Up until 10k i slowed down my pace a little to catch my breathing and a few stacs scattered around the course giving some encouragement.

My legs started to feel a little heavier around 8 miles and had a little pain in my left foot but kept on going at a nice pace. Lynn from Stac was marshalling and gave me a big shoutout before heading out and back shouting “I hope to see you running with club tuesday” (maybe).

Last 2 miles were back onto the road we started on, I could see the finish line and hear the announcer but it wasn’t over yet. I still had 2 miles left. I caught up with a group of runners from Eccleshill and some that had already finished were cheering them on, I got a cheer too. I then made my way past them and as i went round the corner the finish line was in sight, my little sprint finish thing I do where i pretend i am like Mo farah, crossed the line in official chip time of 2:37:59.

I got another bottle of water at the end and made my way to get a T-shirt and Medal. I then found the rest of the group had some photos and a warm down and we made our way back home.

Overall it was a great experience and a massive achievement for myself, was really happy with the time too. Maybe see you again next year Vale of York.