Nasty Reading 1/2 Marathon

On a very cold 7.07am morning the train took me to Reading for about 8.35am. Very kindly they had left all ticket barriers opened. This was the start of endless queues. First stop the women’s toilets. (dont think the men got away lighly though) Thereafter a queue for the shuttle bus (10 minute drive to the start of the race). I went out to the queue and initially thought not to bad should be able to get on the 3rd or 4th bus… that was of course till I saw the end of the lin...where is the bloody end of the line??? A few minutes later and thousand of runners and spectators later I joined the queue. Needless to say it took a good half an hour to get on the bus which took us to the starting area where thankfully there were hundreds of toilets.

Coming up to 10 (start time was to be 10.05am) we were called towards the start where we were to find our various starting places whether it was sub 1:30, sub 1:40 sub 1:50 sub 2:00 etc but there were a lot of confused heads as 1000’s pushed through a wee gap before making there way along Northumberland Ave to start the race.

It was really cold out and although I opted to go without the hat (I overheat with a hat quite quickly) I kept my gloves and I wore a black bin liner to keep me warm. Not that anyone was actually paying any attention but due to our 30 minute delay at the start they had plenty of time to notice the cheap Tesco bin liners I buy-well what do you expect for .99p there’s day yeh? :-) It helped a wee bit though.



The delay at the start was due to 1000’s still being shuttled over from the train station. There was a reported 12,500 entries but I think something like 9500 took part with people like Gordon Ramsey and the Cheeky Girls taking part or so loud speaker man told us.

Anyway I crossed the start line a good 7 minutes after the gun but it did not take my legs long to realise this was going to be a long and tough race. (From around one mile mark) I discarded with the expensive bin liner and the gloves went into my pockets early on. A wee hill around the one mile mark and a good one around 6.75 followed by a wee drop before you went up again. Boy that was fun-NOT!

The water stations were plenty though at 2.5, 5.8, 7, 9.2 and 11th mile. I tried there ‘energy drink’ at 2.5 mark it tasted like gel-yum…so needless to say I wasn’t having any more of that. Heavy legged and just not really enjoying what Reading has to offer (apologies to all those from Reading, but when you compare it to Brighton, Reading is pretty damn dull) I reached for my Jelly babies. Yes I know I know I said I was off all junk for Lent but in this case I was solely using them as an energy boost. It didn’t take me long to scoff the 9 or 10 I had in my pocket. Unfortunately there were no superwoman powers coming my way, so I used my old walk and jog technique.

Interestingly enough I was listening to a local Reading radio station and they were commenting on the race saying how well organised it was and what a beautiful sunny day it was. Hello surely there isn’t another Reading in the UK holding a ½ marathon on the same day that I was attending this one. Cause where I was it was cold, dull and overcast. Hmmmm

Mile markers-the first 7 or 8 you would have missed unless you were running on the left hand side of the road and looking down on the ground - it got better for the last few miles.
Toilets-I could not see one on route and although I think I would have enjoyed sitting down for a minute or two thankfully I didn’t really need to go. I did have an interesting experience while passing a guy and two girls though. The girl in the middle let out the god almighty fart. The guy just looked at her and all I can say is I’m glad I wasn’t behind her :-)

9-13 miles boring and lonely are the words that come to mind as I blodded along a dual carriage way and in through the industrial Park. I did a lot of stopping and starting, I had given up on what time I finished in and was going through the motions. Course to add joy to my fun filled day these guys passed me out a few miles from home



I got a wee bit of energy into me as I saw Madejski Stadium around the 12th mile mark and enjoyed the last few metres into the stadium to the finish line.



(I'm the one with the yellow sleeves second from the finish)

I looked back at the finishing clock and to my surprise it said 2:21 something….so my account if I had started 7 minutes behind the gun then my chip time was ahead of my Brighton ½ marathon two weeks ago. But I would have to wait and see.

Tired and sore I collected my medal and goody bag.

I took one look at the 1000’s queuing for the buses and opted to walk my tired legs the 3 miles to the train station.


I checked on there website today and my time was

2:13:08 a NEW PB-WHOOoooooo!!!!!

Good points about race:
I got a new PB (really happy with that considering i stopped alot and didnt enjoy it-there is hope for me yet :-) )
Nice medal

Bad points:
Loads-just glad I had done a ½ marathon early or might have been turned off for life…ok maybe a bit harsh but didn’t enjoy it.

Went home took quick shower and slept for 2 1/2 hours before getting up to eat and back to bed again. Muscles very sore today and constantly hungry. Was also feeling abit nausious until I had a big thing of pasta at lunch. Guess it took abit out of me this one. Enjoying the rest today but will head out for a few tomorrow to loosen out those tired muscles.