Category: Half Marathon

MK Winter Half 2015 – PBs and Prizes!

MK Winter Half 2015

By Sam Dear

I’d been checking the weather every day before the run, hoping and praying that:

1. The recent strong winds would have disappeared
2. It would be dry
3. It wouldn’t be freezing.

While the winds had almost entirely completely gone, it most certainly was not dry, but
conditions were near perfect for me for the half marathon distance. A little chilly before the gun went off, but the misty drizzle (aka mizzle!) always helps keep you cool whilst not getting you completely soaked through.

I ran this race last year and I remembered that I was stood shivering on the start line whilst they delayed the race to allow people in the toilet queue to join us. Even though the race is chip timed so it doesn’t matter where you start they kept us waiting again for almost 10 minutes before finally letting us get going. read more

A Dirty Half!

Dirt Half Challenge

by Lisa Bowyer

The day had finally arrived! With some preparation under my belt I felt slightly confident that I could get my aim of under 2 hours. This was my second half marathon and the first was in MK in May with a time of 1 hour 57 mins. So with the weather man saying expect “hellish rain” I was expecting the conditions to be tough!

Rocking a black sack, I arrived a the start to see all the LBAC lads ready right at the front on the starting line. They all looked keen and ready to race! “Join us here” they said. I didn’t as I thought I would be the slow one in the way at the front of the pack so went a bit further back (big regret!). I should of started with them and gone to the side and used the field to get my pace. I got stuck in clumps of people and it wasn’t until Tesco that I felt like I had cleared out of a pack and got a good pace going. It’s a nice canal run up to the Three Locks with plenty of support along the way. read more

It’s Good But It’s Not Quite Right

By Andy Inchley

So I haven’t done a half marathon all year, I can’t run the winter half due to an inconsiderate wedding and Bedford is the day after the December Chiltern League so when a friend from MKAC mentioned he was going to Leicester to try and get a London marathon qualifying time I thought I’d tag along, play chauffeur and at least get a time to my name this year.

The weather forecast was just about perfect and we arrived at a chilly but dry Victoria Park with an hour or so before the start. It all looked pretty efficient and bigger than I expected so had no problems collecting my number and doing all the usual pre-race gubbins before joining a few thousand others on the start line. read more

From Hyde Park to the Herts 10k

Royal Parks 1/2M

by Jo Sharples

After trying for a few years to gain a ballot place at the Royal Parks half marathon, 2015 was the year. Excited was an understatement. I even sacrificed the first Chiltern League XC to race (Sorry Andy). Having had a less than an optimal week leading to the race I wasn’t really feeling confident, were my fatigued legs and wheezy lungs going to hold up the 13.1 miles?

So here went nothing. The route was nothing less than spectacular, and the race organisation flawless. The run itself was probably my most challenging, with highs of running down the Mall, pretending I was Paula Radcliffe, and lows such as running mile 7 alongside spongebob square pants, (I wasn’t going to let a sponge beat me!), and the painful calf cramping from mile 10 onward. read more

Let’s Call it a VERY Long Cross Country

Henley Half Marathon

by David Killick

So I am not up with the running terminology so in my mind, trail running is between nice tarmac and mudswamp cross country.  The course at Henley meanders its way from the park at Henley, with the rowers being shouted at by rather large blokes on bikes with megaphones to a place called Hurley where you turn (more about that later) to head back towards Henley where you turn again and then back to the park and finish.  Tarmac, grass, paths, gravel, mud, undulating hills etc etc. read more

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