Marlow Half Marathon 2016

Myself, John and Liam before the start of the Marlow Half
Myself, John and Liam before the start of the Marlow Half

It was touch and go whether my right leg would be up for this year’s half marathon, having pulled out of the Oxford Half a month earlier. I decided to rub some Ibuprofen gel onto the muscles and take a couple of pain killers before the start and see what happens. There was a 7 mile race being held at the same time so I could peel off at two miles and follow the shorter route.
For the first time in three years the weather was perfect, cold but clear and dry. I was surprised to see the Costa Coffee nearby was open at 0830 so next year I’ll take advantage of a booster there. The race is always well organised. I mentioned to my sister how impressed I was with Dave the Disco who gave the impression of knowing all the runners personally. My sister said he probably does! This was backed up by Liam who lives locally so it appears that Dave is a bit of a local hero.
As our little running group had decided this was not going to be a fast run we decided to position ourselves at the back of the start queue, being chip timed it doesn’t matter too much and at least it is better to overtake runners than be overtaken. The firework started the race as usual.
We set off at a steady pace but slowly overhauled some of the slower runners. With only moderate pain I decided to carry on past the two mile turn for the shorter route. The route through rolling countryside and little villages is entirely on tarmac so not too taxing on the muscles.
I eventually finished at 1 hour 58 minutes which although my slowest time for the course was much better than I had hoped, in fact just finishing would have been enough. For some reason there was a big hold up at the baggage reclaim. I can’t remember any queues before so there must have been a new system. It didn’t really matter as we were given our free tee shirts which we all donned to keep warm and it wasn’t raining. However there were some grumblings going on which was a shame.
I’ll be back, it is a bit of an institution now.

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