Richard Perry

Just another blog about nothing

Race Report: Pontypool 10k Home... A Busy Weekend

Race Report: Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon

  |     |   Race Reports   |   Running, Race
Race Details  
Event Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon
Date & Time 05 March 2017 09:00:00
Distance Half Marathon
Type Road Race
Time (PB) 1:45:45 (1:30:28)

This weekend it was the Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon. Another popular local race organised by St Davids Hospice Care. This year I was well aware that I was not in shape to run a PB so, I made the decision to use this as a long tempo run instead. This meant taking it steady(ish) right from the start. I parked up at Newport Stadium again this year with a view to walking over to the start as a bit of a warm up but, as usual, I was running a little late so I ended up jogging the 2 miles to the bag drop to make sure I got there in time. With my bag dropped off, I headed to the start line.

This year the race was started by Darren Campbell. We headed off towards the transporter bridge and I settled into a good pace that I felt I could keep up for the duration, based on my running recently. The race was going well, the sun was out, the crowds were cheering and I felt good. Coming through Caerleon there was a lot of support from the club and the locals so it was good. The wind was quite strong along the cycle path, but it wasn’t really an issue. The 1:35 pace group dragged me along for a little while, but I managed to let them go in Caerleon so I had a bit more space. Unfortunately when I got to about 9 miles everything got a whole lot more difficult! For some reason, my legs just seemed to give up the ghost and it was like I was trying to run with lead boots. I really struggled with those last 4 miles and even walked for a fair bit. It was not a pleasant experience, but I finished :smiley:. I’m not entirely sure what happened given it all seemed to be going well up to 9 miles. The only problem was that it took away from the enjoyment of the event. St Davids Hospice Care have put together a good half marathon, the weather was great (apart from some of the high winds we experienced), the medal and t-shirt were really nice, but I didn’t enjoy the last couple of miles :disappointed: which is a bit of a shame.

Ah well, I just need to put this one behind me and start preparing for my next challenge, which is the Gloucester City Marathon on 06 August 2017 at 08:00. I’m really looking forward to this and to getting back into marathon training again. Hopefully this time, the course will have been accurately measured :wink:.

Strava Details

Race Pictures

comments powered by Disqus