Bath Half Marathon

[Nigel]

Forecast is looking good for Sunday. Dry, sunshine, maybe a little breezy (sounds familiar after Reading), and 11 degrees C.

As I remember, the course is gently downhill to the city centre, with one incline in the town centre past lots of spectators, and then the usual traffic arteries (definitely best NOT to run on the right) and a relatively brief encounter with a council estate. Then it's gently uphill to a roundabout, and a long drag into the city centre to cross the bridge and do it all again. Only snag is that if you reach 10k much over one hour you can be lapped by the leaders. Real motivation to get moving early on.

The second lap is much like the first, except that the previously "gentle" downhill at the start is now a much harder climb given its location from 12.1 to 13.1 miles. There was a youngish male runner being resuscitated on the pavement by an ambulance crew as I ran this stretch last year. Must say that this provided an extra excuse to listen to the demons telling me to take it easier as my own oxygen overdraft accumulated.

Runners gather on the Recreation Ground, home of Bath Rugby Club and one of the most scenic sports grounds in the country. Hope we can meet up there before the race....

[El Gordo]

My number finally arrived this morning - 4064.

I was amused by Point 12 in the instructions: "ANY COMPETITOR FOUND URINATING ON THE RECREATION GROUND OR RESIDENTS' GARDENS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED"

For the benefit of any non-British people reading this, I should explain that Bath has a rather genteel reputation (Jane Austen and all that), and this sort of warning chimes nicely with that image.

Thanks for the info about the course profile. For some reason I was under the impression it was totally flat, but obviously not.

I'll look out for that final climb, though I'm hoping to be at least a couple of minutes inside the world record at that point, so I should be able to take it easy for the final mile. Or if that strategy fails, I'll still be hoping to get in under 2:20. My half marathon target for this year is 2:10, but I'll be very happy with 2:15 at Bath. In fact I'll be happy with anything under 2:20.

How about you? And what's your number? I'll look out for you on the recreation ground. I'll be wearing my V-Team white singlet, with the Hal Higdon URL on the back. Navy blue shorts.

Cheers

Andy

[Nigel]

Presumably 30,000 drunken rugby fans never desecrate the hallowed turf, unlike 3,000 nervous and overhydrated runners.

I'm #4052 (unless guilty) and will likely be wearing my highly prestigious (er, well $5 worth of) white Fleet Feet Sports Chicago T shirt and navy shorts.

Probably lurking near the hedge at the top right of the Rec (checking on infringements of Rule 12). See you there !

[Griff]

Andy

I've enjoyed reading your site. Am running in the Bath Half too. Guess what? I'm the race number after yours. Sorry to hear about your injury. Try to get it sorted for the race. Miight bump into you. I'm aiming for 2hrs but will probably do about 2:15.

Let's go for it!

Pete

[El Gordo]

Griff - what a coincidence. Did you enter via the Runners World 'Extra 100 places' offer?

I mentioned in the Silverstone report that Albert and Daryl, the two guys I gave a lift to, who hadn't known each other at the time they applied, realised after the race that they had consecutive numbers.

Latest bulletin on the calf injury is that it's still sore, and I've not run today. I think I'll go for a walk this evening to see how it feels. And as Celtic v Liverpool is on the box, I might just pop into the local while I'm at it, to psychologically prepare myself for Sunday.

I really can't say whether I'll make it. Injuries are new territory to me. I suppose I should be icing it and nibbling Ibuprofen and stuff. Whatever happens, it looks like I won't be grabbing the world record this weekend. Apologies to anyone who bet thousands of poundwith William Hill.

Which reminds me. I remembered this afternoon that on Sunday evening, after being in the pub, I put £100 on Arsenal to win the FA Cup. Had totally forgotten about it. Online betting. A dangerous business.

Will keep you informed about Bath.

Andy

[Griff]

Yes I did enter via the Runnersworld extra places. just happened to be browsing that site by chance on the day the places were released. Never done a 13.1 before so thought it would be fun since it's local to me (I actually live less than 13.1 from the start!). The plan was to use it as a training run for the FLM (first time at that distance too!!). As it happened, I failed to gain entry to that, so Bath was a good consolation.

Andy, a friend of mine who ran the Bath last year told me to bring my own fluids because there were only two water stations (three this year I think) and the water was dispensed in cups, making it more "It's a Knockout" than a serious athletics event.

[El Gordo]

Hey Griff - I see from your location that you live in Yate.

Are you aware that that's where I lived while training for London 2002?

Yate! I had some lovely running routes round there. Would be interested in where you run.

Andy

[Seafront Plodder]

I have stayed in Bath on many occasions. Not sure if it still goes on, but there used to be a huge volleyball tournament held in the park next to Bath RFC. Excellent weekend event!

I would have made the effort to enter but event was full. Doing a solitary 18 miles tomorrow as punishment. Good luck to all, and Andy, I hop (sic) get your PB.

Andy. (yes another one)

[Griff]

Well what a coincidence! I run huge perimeter circuits of Yate of about 6 miles. I'm also very fond of running the country lanes north of Yate (Engine Common Lane, Chaingate Lane, Dyers lane). That run is about 5.5 miles.

Take it easy. See you in Bath............

[El Gordo]

Griff, that's a real coincidence. That's exactly where I used to run. Engine Common Lane etc, up past the riding school. Also up and around North Lane.

For my very long runs I used to to go up through Wickwar and around... oh dear, I can't even remember the names of the places now... I only lived there 6 months, having never been there before... yes, the long runs used to include that road that went from the M5 to Yate.

Regarding Bath, it's now looking unlikely I'm afraid. I've just returned from a 3 miler and the calf is still playing up. Will make a final decision later, but it's looking like a 30:70 chance at present.

Good luck to all who do make it.

Andy

[Nigel]

It was the Celts who discovered the hot springs of Bath, around 500 BC, worshipping their goddess Sul here. From 43 AD, the Roman city of Aquae Sulis - the waters of Sul - developed around the site. Bath was built as a town for recreation, not a garrison, a kind of ancient Las Vegas, and the impressive baths today form some of the best Roman remains in Europe.

In more recent ages, Samuel Pepys, Queen Anne, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, David Garrick, Thomas Gainsborough, William Wordsworth, Josiah Wedgwood, William Pitt and Dr David Livingstone all visited at one time or another. The science of geology began here as William Smith made the first geological map of the landscape around Bath in 1799. A young Princess Victoria opened a beautiful park named after her in 1830. Not long after, a letter bearing the first Penny Black stamp was posted in Bath in 1840, just as Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous Great Western Railway reached the city, bound for the port of Bristol and departures for the Americas.

Bath today is an extraordinarily beautiful city, famous for the best of Georgian architecture and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And... they have one of the best organised Half Marathons in the country, with 5,000 runners assembling in Great Pulteney Street, a Georgian boulevard some 1,100 feet long, 100 feet wide and dating from 1788.

Picture a fresh blue March morning, daffodils lining the banks of the River Avon, the golden oolitic limestone facades glowing in the sunshine, and the first warmth of an English Spring. It's a marvellous day to run.

The Runners' World 1:45 pacers are nearby in the start-line crush. It's not a chip race, so that means running 1:44, maybe a stride too far today. And as the crowd are let forward before the gun, I lose them for good, but the good news is that in less than a minute I'm over the line and on my way. A gentle downhill mile and across the river, 8:30. Into the city centre, greeted by a huge cheering crowd and some Peruvian drummers beating an enervating 160 or more as we bottleneck up a short, stiff incline through the elegant streets. The second mile post is lost, but 24:40 at the third reveals some solid progress before we head out into open country and loop back to find a welcome downhill at mile 4.

I'm well forward in the field, and many more folk are passing me than I'm catching. That's recompense (or retribution) for Reading last week, and it could still mean motivation or discouragement today. Trying hard not to be a mobile roadblock, I reach 5 miles in 40:53. Back over the bridge, past the Peruvian drums again and into the second lap.

It feels laboured, but fast, faster than ever before. We're only half way and I'm wary of digging too deep, yet keen to push on all the same. Control or attack, I can't decide, so in place of a decision I just drift along a mile or two. Visualise those dark winter Sunday evenings on the track back home in Guildford, and let the legs run a few more laps beneath me.

I emerge back into Spring in time to see the family taking a break from the adventure playground in Victoria Park to cheer me on at mile 8. With a smile fixed on my face, it's certainly the best mile of the day. Turning homeward again, at 1:22:12 for 10 miles, it's a minute and a half inside my best at this distance. To calculate a finish time, add 3.1 x 8:20...., but I give up on the maths as an ambulance howls past out of town towards the hospital. Last year I saw a young man being resuscitated on the pavement inside the last mile, and I hope it's not a runner.

Breathe harder, trying to leave something for that final uphill stretch back to Great Pulteney Street, and when we get there I'm rewarded as the drift of racers halts, and then slowly but resolutely comes back towards me. I burn under the railway bridge, give a thumbs-up to a photographer (there's always time to pose) and catch a fleeting glimpse of civic pride in the floral display on a traffic island. Then it's round the final corner into an almost empty finishing straight. Three of us battle it out alongside. At first I've got it, but the street stretches just too far and I'm (not really) gutted when a yellow shirted beard pips me at the line. I stop my watch at 1:47:22, a round 100 second PB.

There's not a cloud in the sky, and the sun is still dazzling its own reflections when I cross the river and stroll stiffly through the winding streets back to the park. As I cut the race loop, a St John's Ambulance team are briefly concerned to see me staggering by, but I give them a big smile and tell them I've already finished. It's a wonderful race on a wonderful day, and I really love this place.

[Griff]

What a lovely description, Nigel. I bet Andy is wishing he was there now!

As for me, it was my first half marathon, having only run for the first time last year in the Great South Run (10 miles). I thought the day was great and the weather certainly made Bath look beautiful.

I thought I'd picked up a knee injury at 8 miles but popped a couple of aspirin and slowed for a couple of hundred yards and it disappeared for the rest of the race (indeed forever!). I passed the 10 mile mark at 2mins below my PB at that distance and pushed forward to try and get home in sub 2hrs. Unfortunately it was not going to happen and I managed 2h02m33 according to my Timex Ironman.

There were times when I wondered about giving up, but I have to say that it was worth the mental effort because the finishing straight in Gt Pulteney Street with scarcely any runners around you was fantastic.

I do have a few criticisms though:

1. The"grid" was not marked out on lamp posts or similar.
2. Mile markers were sometimes hard to spot.
3. Water stations dispensed in cups and on one occasion could not keep up with demand.
4. After the finish runners were not funnelled to the goody bag area. We got caught in a general melée with finishers, spectators et al.
5. Wot! No medal! Or foil blanket. In Portsmouth we got a medal, a T-shirt, a foil blanket, some footspray ....... and a cuddly toy (only joking about the cuddly toy!)

As I said earlier, I'm a novice (46 year old) at these events and I'm learning all the time. In Portsmouth I learnt about sore nipples so I taped them this time. In Bath I learnt how to walk back to the car like John Wayne. In fact I'm still walking like that today, so next race I shall invest in a tub of vaseline and will apply it liberally to the upper, inner thigh area.

Final thought: Shall I do the Bristol in September? About 12:30 yesterday (Sunday) I would have said "No!". Today, mmmm I'm warming to the idea. It was certainly a breeze having local knowledge yesterday for parking etc. That (and only 12 miles to get home) was certainly preferable to the 2 hour jaunt to Portsmouth.

[El Gordo]

Thanks for the excellent reports, guys. I had to finally admit defeat on Saturday lunchtime after my three mile run exposed the calf problems again.

Nigel - I hear that the Bath Tourist Board have a vacancy in their PR Dept, which you may want to consider. I felt like changing my holiday plans after reading your report. Well done on another PB. You're in good form at the moment, in every way.

Griff - congratulations on the first half. One of the best things about the first time at a distance of course, is that it guarantees a PB, so well done on that... I've got a bit of catching up to do. You're a year or so older than me but 18 minutes faster at the half distance. My target for the year is 2:10, and if I can eventually get below 2 hours, I think I'd be happy, in the same way that 4:30 is a notional distant target for the marathon. One of the encouraging things you read is that regardless of the age you start running, you can expect to keep on improving for 7 years or so.

You're right about always learning things from races. There are different categories of learning as well: pace and race strategy, nutrition and hydration, clothing and equipment, raceday logistics, choice of event, and so on.

The chafed thighs problem was one of the first problems I encountered - and solved - when my runs got longer. I tried Vaseline for a while, and it does work, but it's a bit messy. Instead I hit on the perfect solution for me, and that was to wear a pair of lycra shorts under my running shorts. They provide a physical barrier between your thighs, so no chafing is possible.

I'm also looking to do the Bristol Half on Sept 7th, 2 weeks before the GNR. Keep us posted if you plan to do it, and we could have another go at meeting up. Other halfs in the South West that I had pencilled in in sort of feint, dotted lines, are Plymouth and Exeter in May, though I suspect I'll get to neither.

No medal at Bath? That's terrible news. Normally it's a prerequisite for me entering a race.

But again, well done both of you and perhaps we'll all be there next year.

Andy