"Wilmslow Half Marathon"

After a break of ten years and following a good run at the Stafford Half two weeks ago I was glad that I had once again entered this top class, fast, flat and very local (5 miles away!) race. This year hosting the English Half Marathon Championships and with the race limit of 4000 reached before Christmas, the day turned out to be sunny, cloud free and around 10 degrees centigrade with a slight breeze, the perfect running day.

As I am not fit enough to race hard over this distance I started out steadily (with the aim of remaining below 7.30 as an average) I cruised the first few miles at around 7.08 pace. The lack of distance work told around 10 miles (on one of the course's few climbs around the "Victory Hall" in Mobberley, pictured above) but I kept everything under control and was determined to just "enjoy" the event as a run, coming in at 1.36.46. I crossed the line with the former three time Olympian & Commonwealth Games 800m champion Diane Modahl and was glad she hadn't decided to use that world class pace (even after all these years)to race the last quarter mile!

The time was 12 minutes quicker than Stafford but 10 minutes off a PB!! But it was a great Sunday morning run all the same with a fantastic t-shirt!

I may even be tempted to "race" the "Swift Half Marathon" in the Peak District in May!