The Bath Half

One of my older sisters, Kathryn and 7 of her friends (Kim, Hannah, Theresa, Ed, Mark, Gordy and David) have all rallied together to raise an amazing £500 for Macmillian and Myeloma and a further £700 for 3 other charities; Mind, Parkinsons and Alzheimers. So a FANTASTIC total of £1200 towards the £10,000 target. This is amazing news and maybe I will hit this target sooner than I ever imagined. Do I dare say it, if I make it to £10,000 should I be upping this goal to £25,000?

Here is what Kathryn had to say about this event, her training, the day and how she feels afterwards.


It all started in about September... a cheeky facebook invite went out to a group of friends:

I can't quite believe I'm doing this... but, I've already mentioned it to a few people, who are keen.

I'm proposing a weekend in the beautiful city of Bath, with a half marathon thrown in the mix. To make it more appealing, I'm also proposing a Sunday running club, which involves a little bit of training and a little bit of winter wine.

Who's in??

Before I knew it there was 10 of us signed up, with varying levels of running experience from seasoned runners to first timers and so the training began... well, the meeting up on Sundays to drink wine began, less of the running, that didn't really start until the New Year when we soon realised we had less than 10 weeks till the big day. We started clocking up the miles, with several of us meeting for long runs at the weekend. One Saturday Theresa and I went out in minus 5 degrees, we got actual ice on our chins as we were running. Although it was a beautiful morning with steam rising off the canal and bright blue skies, it turned out to be a bad idea as I picked up a nasty cough which put my training back a week or so.

I last did a half marathon in 2007 with a finish time of 2:29 (thanks Tammy!) and I was determined to train better and be faster for this half marathon. I was aiming for 10 minute miles which would have given me a sub 2:15 finish time, but I really struggled with the hills (I HATE HILLS) and interval training so wasn't making huge steps at increasing my pace. Still, I'd definitely put more training miles in for this run then any previous ones so I went in quietly confident I could make the sub 2:15 target.

On race day weekend, after a long schlep from South East London, and with a carb loading Burger King on the M4, we made it to the beautiful village of Wellow just outside of Bath where we had a massive cottage booked. It was a stunning weekend with a lovely walk in the countryside, snooze in the sunshine and civilised (read sober) carb heavy dinner on the Sat night.

Then race day arrived. It was foggy and chilly as our slightly mad taxi driver picked us up on Sunday morning for the short drive into town. We were very early, but there were plenty of other runners about and a lot going on at the charity village. The fog cleared and the sun came out as we approached the start line. I ran with 2 of the other girls up until around mile 4, it was hard staying together in the crowds, with slightly different paces. It was hot. Very hot. And with some small hills despite talk of it being a flat route (did I mention I hate hills). Miles 10 - 12 were a killer, mainly because I missed the mile 11 marker and thought I was going at snails pace and never going to finish! When the mile 12 marker game into view it was such a surprise and a wonderful sight... could I still make the 2:15 time? I saw some of my family around the course, who had come along to support me (love you guys) and this really helped me on the final stretch, I even did a (sort of) sprint finish (check out the video on marathonphotos.com) Officially my time was 2:16:58 but I had to stop for a wee at 10k so I think I can almost claim this as a sub 2:15 time. I was feeling pretty emotional when I met the guys at the Macmillan tent and was very proud of all of us and our amazing achievement. A few blisters, cuts and aching muscles but we were all in one piece and most definitely off to the pub!

I had such a fantastic time training with friends, raising so much money for amazing charities and having a long weekend away. Although it was amazing, I think our next weekend away will have more of a focus on wine than running, although I've got the bug and am raring to sign up for another one so I can properly smash the 2:15! Royal Parks anyone?? 

Planning the pub quiz...

Raffle prizes, check
Charity Buckets, check
Change, check
Invites out, check
Chutneys made – …
Chutney ingredients bought, check
Who’s baking what list, check
Pick up baking – on the day
Raffle prizes, check
Charity buckets, check
Raffle prizes, check
Charity buckets, check
Raffle prizes, check
Charity buckets, check
Raffle prizes, check
Charity buckets, check
….ARGH
..Of course, write pub quiz questions… need to check

I cannot tell you how many times, I wrote, checked, rechecked and rewrote my checklist for the pub quiz. The date was closing in, it was Jan all I had was the venue, a list of people who said they would help and a whole list of things to get done. Having never organised anything like this before, what did I even need to add to the list? Then there were the sub lists, raffle prizes, which shops in which areas could I approach? Who did I need to phone, email or see in person? Who did I need to chase? What did I need to buy? What did I need? What did I not need?....Frankly I went a little list crazy, but somehow it came together and before I knew it I had a clear list of things I needed on the day and remaining tasks. All I needed to do; was do them.

Calling upon my beautiful friends I got myself some posters made by the lovely Paul Rudeforth and Christopher Green, picked up charity buckets from Rob Turner (Local Macmillan Representative), had a day of chutney making with Amy and Paul (I have never chopped so many onions in my life!) and went on a very successful raffle prize hunt with Tara Bhatia.

Along the way I learnt how to secure a raffle prize, how to make tasty chutneys and the basics on how to run a charity event, 3 things I didn't know before and hope to use them all again in the years to come. This being my first event, it was a steep learning curve with definite moments of panic, other moments of clarity and definitely some tears along the way – both happy and sad.