1st November 2026
Reading Time: 2 minutes
This is my 15th year running the Marlow Half Marathon and one day it will be time to stop this malarky before I get timed out. This year I had spent from April until September on the boat so there was no running over the whole summer. When I returned to London and started to train for this half marathon there was only four weeks left to go. My first run was painfully slow, I thought I would never get fit enough to run 13.1 miles. I had to be careful not to overdo it. My Military Outdoor Fitness classes on Blackheath helped me to mix things up by including some strength training. The week before the race I slowly ran the 10 mile loop over Tower Bridge and through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. If I maintained that speed I would sneak in under 2 1/2 hours. The good news was that I had no niggling pains so I felt vaguely up for the challenge.
The race starts with a very long slightly uphill gradient. In the past I have occasionally seen people walking some of this stretch and thought it crazy to need to walk so early into the route. This time the hill seemed longer and steeper but I did manage run it. I saved my walking for the two really steep hills later in the race. It is pointless struggling to run these hills if it just leaves you exhausted at the top.
As is always the case, by mile 10 I started to feel knackered. This is a shame because it is all downhill from there. If you can still have some reserves of energy at this point you can have a great speedy run to the finish. In my case I just had to plod along.
I eventually finished in 2:24:58 marginally better than my slowest ever time but way short of my nephew who sped in at 1:40:43. Well done Alex!
After the race, my sister, who lives nearby, made us a splendid lunch.
Thanks to the race organisers who as usual did a brilliant job. Hopefully I will endeavour to be back next year!
Leave a Reply