Andrea Fox

Running is Well Boring

So I did some commiserating and some celebrating.
In yesterday’s Brighton Half Marathon, my second ever, I got a time, exactly the bloody same time as last year. In fact, 30 seconds slower. 2 hours, 2 minutes, 34 seconds. I don’t mind telling you, I wanted to cry.

But! All is not lost.

First up, I didn’t start where I should have at around the 1:45 point. Thanks to some steward not letting me cut into the 1:20 pen and walk back, I found myself starting at the 2 hour mark. That’s a lot of people to manoeuvre around and the course is narrow and busy so my idea of cutting past people like some whippet didn’t really happen. Maybe it was also my bladders fault for needing a last minute wee, but next time, no Mrs Nice Runner, I shall push forward to where I want to start. But I am British still, so I will say sorry a lot whilst pushing in.

Secondly, unlike last year when I died at the 10 mile mark, I did the exact opposite. I had more space, and realised I was not on time for a personal best so I started pegging it. As much as my tired-of-running-10-miles-of-running-already legs could manage. This is good, as at least I paced myself and probably could have run faster all along.

Third of all, and some would say most importantly, the course was a bit longer. Lots of runners seemed very worked up about this, but as long as I get to stop at some point I’m not that fussed. It appears despite many checks of the course length (13.1 miles for a half marathon) was actually around 13.5 miles. This is the really good news, as funnily enough adds about ooh, around 2 minutes and 34 seconds to my time. Cut that off and well-whaddya-know, 2 hours. A personal best! And all thanks to maths! And I hate Maths! Who would have thought it?

Fourtherly, and most important to me, I did not repeat DID NOT get overtaken embarrassingly by someone dressed as a toilet. I did see a guy dressed as Sponge Bob Square Pants, and a bloke in pink leotard. After the finish line this year I saw two ‘toilet people’, who run for charity Water Aid in case you were wondering, and almost mentioned last year’s overtaking incident, but thought better of it. I wasn’t in a good mood at this point, did I mention the wanting to cry already? I did? Good.

Another issue I had, which I am embarrassed to admit working in radio-land, my Ipod playlist ended at mile 10. I don’t know how I over looked the playlist length, but I wasn’t going to waste time fishing the thing out of my pocket and trying to unlock it and starting it again. That’s like, 10 whole seconds wasted. And if I had done that I would have missed one of the funniest moments of the whole race. Running past a bloke at 11 miles who had stopped to walk for a bit, and overhearing his earphones blaring out Queen Don’t Stop Me Now. That, Alanis Morissette, is irony. I think.

So those are my excuses, should you wish to believe them or not, unless you’ve done a half marathon I’m listening to you anyway. If this were a tweet I’d put a smiley face there, but I’ve already lowered the tone with deliberate spelling errors so I won’t. Lets hope I don’t have to cheat to get a PB at the Reading Half in April. The target after that, is still to finish the Brighton marathon in under 4 hours. But for today, I can’t walk.

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