Cardiff in the Sun

It's never a great start to the day when you wake up, look at the alarm clock and say "Bollocks, I should have been up an hour ago." Fortunately I'd factored in some chill out time which got cut short as I groaned and dragged myself around the house getting ready for my sixth Cardiff half marathon.

I was a tad nervous going into this one for previous stated reasons, but it was a crisp Autumnal day in the 'Diff and there was a good atmosphere in the capital from the moment I cycled off from my house. The start was from outside the Castle and it was quite a luxury to leave getting to the start until 15 minutes from the starting pistol. It was quite a sight looking back at Queen Street rammed with runners, the aromatic smell of Deep Heat in the air...

What surprised me about the run was with that many people how quickly it opened up. I found a comfortable space just before the second mile as we ran up Penarth Road. I took the first two miles q bit easy to see how I was feeling then opened up the throttle a bit. One of the many great things about the route (unchanged I believe from last year) was that it had many long, straight stretches which does help when getting a good head of steam going. Around mile five/six as we were approaching Penarth and the Barrage and I was feeling pretty good so upped my pace. Cardiff is getting better at supporting the race but there's still far fewer supporters out than in other races I've ever done. Still it was nice to run past the Doctor Who Experience and see people handing out jelly babies dressed in Doctor Who dressing gowns.

I felt pretty good all the way round and only really started to lose a bit of pace around mile ten, by which time I knew a PB wasn't on the cards. Still I had enough left in the tank for a sprint finish and felt pretty good when I crossed the finish line. It's the first race I've done in a while that I haven't had a Garmin Foreunner, and I think I could have run a bit faster with one. Still I got in at a respectable 1:44, I've run faster but I've also run slower and I seem to have bounced back quickly and have a few races lined up already for the rest of the year. I bumped Rob Sell a mate of mine after I crossed the line who said he'd gone blind at one point! Blimey! Still got a better time than me though...