Bath 1/2 2008

Well another foray into deepest darkest England, for a road race with friends and family. Out of an origional 13 of us entered, 7 of us raced on the day, but this meant we had plenty of support from the others.

The Bath half misses most of the historic sites of the city but is a fast two lap race, starting and finishing at the same spot. Slight undulations on each lap were not trouble on a largely flat route and Lynne and I were both hoping for pbs and a couple of friends were running there first 1/2m.

Unfortunately the day dawned cold, wet and windy. I took the dog out for 3 miles first thing in Bristol where we were staying to loosen up before breakfast and the drive over.

We got to Bath early and stayed out of the rain by getting a coffee. The Runners Village was a quagmire and road flats aren't known for their grip so I was skating about meeting up with everyone. The rain had eased a little and I stripped with 40 minutes to go and put my kit in the storage area. Then with 25 minutes to go they said the start was delayed by an hour and the rain returned! Now 12000 or so runners squeezed into every marquee they could find. Bin bags were given out for warmth and the banter was fun in a Blitz Spirit sort of way, but standing shivering and slowly getting hungry for an hour isn't my idea of perfect preparation and I wont mention the smell. I wonder if the elites were standing in a tent like sardines too?

Anyway 45 minutes later the rain had stopped and everyone was called to the start. I had put down 1:30 as a target on my entry and found myself being allowed into the front pen, just behind the elite. Surely there was some mistake? So I hung around at the back of this group feeling out of place, and cold.

The race went ok, as ever I set off too fast at around 6:30 for the first slightly down hill mile and then settled down. Given the delay I was hoping for close to 1:31 maybe and felt on course. I passed the 10k point only 20 seconds off my pb and still feeling good, and I was still with a good group so felt confident.

The last half mile is slightly uphill and I felt a little wobbly when I tried to kick, but just eased back a tiny bit before pushing rather than sprinting.

1st Raymond Tonui 1:05:30

481/ 10009 Jason Kaushal 1:29:13

6614 Lynne HIbberd 2:03:56

I was well chuffed with my time and it was a real surprise. It would be interesting to see the age group breakdpwns. Lynne also got a pb and was very pleased, and I think everyone in our group had a good race, however the organisation before was a real let down and I am not sure I would do this again, but one to look at if you want a good time on a circular course.

Lets hope some of this fitness transfers to the hills, but things are going well at the moment.

Posted by Jason Kaushal on Tue 18 Mar 2008 | 3 comments

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