Shakespeare Half Marathon

Oh I’ve been late in writing this.  SO….following on from the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend…I ran the Shakespeare Half Marathon on the next Sunday.  Six days after my previous half marathon.  I was not looking forward to this.  I’ve never done this before.  Stratford is hilly.  Milton Keynes hurt and it was flat.  Oh well.  Let’s just get on and hope for the best.

And so I did.  The Shakespeare Half is a beautiful half marathon which I would recommend to everyone. There is also a marathon option which is two laps.  The route takes you round the centre of Stratford where you run by Shakespeare’s birthplace and also his resting place.  You then go out of Stratford and all around are the most amazing views.   At one point I was at the top of a hill, and then started slowly going down.  You could see the country road ahead winding down and it was full of colour from all the runners.  It was a brilliant sight.  I should have stopped to take a picture really.  I am glad I did not…

 

I was not expecting anything from this race other to see what it feels like on tired legs.  I had to walk a couple of times and I was throwing water over myself constantly (very hot day).  I reached 10 miles of the half, 5K to go, check my watch. Oh…look at that.  I wonder if I can run a 30 minute 5K…that’s close to a half PB then.  Maybe I shouldn’t.  I’ll probably hurt myself, stop myself doing anymore, be deflated. What shall I do?

In the end I thought…why not try? I feel ok.  My legs are not aching.  My hip is not hurting.  Let’s speed up! And so I did.  And it hurt. It was hell.  I grunted.  I pushed.  I pushed some more.  And then…I finished! 02:15:01. A Half Marathon PB!  Can you even believe it!  My previous PB was at MK Winter Half in 2015.  02:16:54. I’ve not been close since. 

At Milton Keynes on the Bank Holiday Monday I ran a 2:22:45.  Stratford was seven minutes faster, six days on, more hills.  How. Amazing.  Super Happy Jen.

The funniest moment was seeing JB as I was about to cross the finish line.  They read out my name.  He hadn’t seen me and the look of confusion on his face was priceless.  “What? No? She can’t be? I’ve got at least 10 minutes to wait.”  He’d been to the hotel and back since he had finished and would have missed me had he been just 2 seconds later!

The only negative about the race is on the last km, the run goes back on to a main road where the cone placement only gives the runners a narrow gap with no passing space really.  Not ideal when you’re trying to push through!

Still….an incredible race and an incredible weekend. 

I do have other developments to share.  The sobriety is no more.  For now.  Since Stratford in fact.  That’s for another post, though.  In the meantime, this is what June is looking like for me. Three 10K events.  Three half marathons. It’s a bit full:

Wish me luck!