Cambridge half marathon completed! Five halves and one relay leg of seven miles in perfect long distance running weather. Not too warm, not too cold, occasionally windy but always sunny.
Apparently the organisers increased the field from 4000 to 4,500. Unfortunately this made a difference in terms of congestion. The streets of Cambridge aren’t designed to accommodate that number of runners (oddly Cambridge University and the city planners over several centuries failed to predict mass participation running). This resulted in a lot of boxing in and unwanted change of pace. I was forced to trip up people, push them aside or deliver a karate chop to pass them. It was justified carnage. I know what pace I need to maintain and if they don’t automatically clear a space for me to glide effortlessly by,well, they pay the penalty.
Possibly foolishly, I put too much effort into parkrun the day before and felt a little tired. Nevertheless, I was only 1 min 42 seconds outside last years Cambridge half and I was happy with that. In fact we all ran well despite a general lack of consistent training among some of us (I couldn’t use this excuse).
Shanti ran a much faster time than last year, improving by around 20 minutes. Boyfriend Ben is drinking a non alcoholic beer that we all received in our goodie bags.
I drank around 400 mls during the race, sufficient after finishing and regularly for the rest of the day. As a result of my responsible behaviour, I avoided dehydration and also excruciating cramp during the night. How clever am I!
With such smart dudes at the University you think they would have been able to predict alternative street uses. Very disappointing.
Yes, it’s significant the University doesn’t offer a degree in Futurology!
Great that you finished in a good time, though it sounds as though the crowds were frustrating. I hope that you didn’t injure your hands with all those karate chops!
No chance! I’ve delivered so many chops my right hand is battle hardened. If they increase the numbers next year I’ll be using Tasers.