Sarah’s Half Marathon
Half Marathon Team Picture
I can’t believe that October has arrived so soon as it only seems like yesterday that I ran the Cardiff Half Marathon last year! With the lack of training this year I was dreading the day but on the morning of Sunday 17th October I pulled back the curtains and was met by the glorious sunshine and of course this gave me a huge incentive!
I was running as part of a team which consisted of 25 (mad) people all running and raising money for the ‘James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer’ (JW4KC).We had a team photo first then we made our way to our different time zones at the start line as we all had personal goals. My personal goal was just to complete it! Trying to spot members of the team in our matching white and grey vest tops in amongst the 15,000 other runners was proving difficult so Suz and I ran together for the first 6 miles then separated (of course she was eating my dust)!
Once I got into my stride I found I was quite enjoying the run as the route was particularly scenic and what made the scenery more spectacular was when a guy burned passed me dressed ONLY in Borat’s mankini!!! As you can imagine this was just the motivation I needed when hitting the 9 mile mark – haha.
There were a lot of sites, good & bad, but one thing that stands out in my mind was when I saw a couple doing that ‘fast walking’ and I couldn’t pass them!!!! To top things off I thought I knew where the finishing line was but to my horror they had moved it – BIG mistake when I’d already started my sprint finish and there was no going back then.
It was the last 2 miles that proved difficult for me but being as determined as I am there was no way I was giving up and to my amazement I completed the run in 2.05 which meant I managed to shave 12 minutes off my time compared to 2009 so I am over the moon.
Every member of the JW4KC completed the course despite traveling miles to the start line and experiencing falls, injuries and a torturous finish line. The money raised to date is £2337.56 with more money on the way.
If anyone would like to run with the team next year please contact Joanne Popham on jp@jameswhalefund.org it really is a fantastic experience, so I challenge you to join our team next year.
