Chester Half Marathon report by Colin

Colin Williams managed to combine a trip to visit his hometown and catch up with family with the Chester half marathon which by an amazing coincidence fell on the same day (!).


With my family just after the race

It boasts a super quick course record time of 62 minutes something so I went with a view of having a crack at a sub 1.20 time, or failing that a new PB which stands at 1.21.00. I had run the race before in 2016 but I was recovering from an injury at the time and just got round. As a consequence I didn’t quite remember the undulations on the course which certainly seem steeper when you have been running at your limit for over an hour. This time I had a solid run but realised within the first few miles that sub 1.20 was unlikely and tried to run a pace I felt I could maintain throughout and a hopefully deliver a new PB.

As it turned out I was simply not in the condition to do it. Trying to do the sums with 3 miles to go I worked out the if I ran three speedy ones I could maybe squeak it and went after it, and emptied the tank by mile 12 before being greeted by the final mile which has about 25m climb (which seemed like 250ft climb at the point!). As this point my speed dropped and I put in a 6min36sec mile and got over taken by 7 people. Once it flattened for the last 200m I sprinted and managed to get back 2 places – see facial expression below as evidence!!

All in all I am content with my run as I ran the best today I think I was able to. I finished in 1.21.37, 57th overall and 11th M40. I have the rearranged Alloa half at the start of June which I entered expected to do it March but it has been postponed due to the extreme snow so I that gives me a target (and motivation to train better).

The event is very well run which I can recommend and Chester is a nice place to visit if you ever fancy it. http://www.activeleisureevents.co.uk/half-marathon