Chester Half Marathon – Race report

I was the only one to enter race 5 of the Championship; our first half marathon and the longest race to date. To all who didn’t run, other than the points, it wasn’t a fun one to do – I have to add that this was only due to the heat. My plan was to start at the 90min pace (which is 6:52 min/mile pace) and to see how long I could last, with the target of finishing in 1:31:45 (which is 7 min/mile pace). The first mile was uphill, but I started ok and, for the first four miles, averaged the 6:52 min/mile. However, for some reason the legs didn’t feel like it and I then started to drop off as I got warmer and it turned into a race of trying to hang on and finish in a respectable time. This I sort of managed and I got round in 1:34:37, about two minutes off my PB, and finished in 301st out of 5,280 runners. As for the course, it’s hillier than I expected, with 315ft of climbing, and has about half of the race up and down one main road, so from that aspect, not one I’d recommend. However, organisation was excellent and, if it had been 10 degrees cooler, then I’d have felt a lot better about it.

No picture for this one – I’m not big on selfies!

David Simmons