Bath Half Marathon

I'm aware this isn't a travel post, however I feel it is an achievement I wanted to post about. 

On the Sunday, March 2nd I ran the Bath Half Marathon in support of Guide Dogs. In terms of training, as most of you will know I love most forms of exercise so training for this was no an interference, however because of my busy schedule it was hard to fit the training in. This meant some mornings I was going before work and getting to the gym when it opened at 6.30am, which is positively madness. It is also horrible training in the winter months outside, as you don't know what weather to expect, especially with recent floods. 

I managed to get a few 12km runs under my belt (thanks to Nathan), however only two of these were outside so I was bit nervous as to whether or not I would be able to cope. 

Race Day came and the weather was overcast and just generally quite dismal (am I surprise?) and I was even blessed with glorious rain. Luckily though I was prepared in my long running leggings, my Nike Pro and my Guide Dogs running vest. 

There was a long wait to actually get to the start, so everyone was getting rather wet and cold, however I did what they do on TV and gave my thighs a couple of slaps to get the muscles warmed up. When I finally got to the start, the nerves really started to kick in but I didn't have much time to think about it as before I knew it, I had clicked start on my watch and my running app and away I went. It was difficult at the start as there were so many people, so it tough trying to dodge between the people slower than myself, but it did feel good to do a bit of over taking. 

I impressed myself by running an hour and a half without walking (which is an achievement for me) but eventually I couldn't keep going and started walking so I could take a gel. However I found that walking was in fact more painful, so I attempted to start running again but my legs just felt ridiculous. I think this feeling can be described as 'hitting the wall'. 

I tried my best to run as much as I could but I have to admit I did mix it up with a bit of walking. I finally 'sprinted' over the finish line at 2 hour and 7 minutes ( a personal best by 6 minutes) which I was very happy with. However reaching the finish wasn't as satisfying as one would have hoped, as my legs didn't quite want to stand up anymore, but I still had to walk ages to get my medal, so I had to really grip on the railings to keep myself from falling in a heap. I finally got to my medal and it felt great, even if I was freezing and in masses of amounts of pain and I managed to raise £375 for Guide Dogs.

For anyone that hasn't sponsored me and still would like to, my Just Giving page is: www.justgiving.com/Kate-Trueman