Cardiff Half Marathon 19th Oct 2008 (Ivan & Sian)

9am Start time for the race meant a pretty early wake up call to get up walk the dog
and get some breakfast before heading travelling to Cardiff. Thanks to Sian’s parents
for getting up early on the one day they didn’t have to and driving us there and
cheering us on.

Race started bang on time and a number of harriers no doubt dashed off for last minute
toilet runs (i know of at least one) before diving back into the start lanes and fighting
through to thier appropriate start posistion.

There were a bunch of runner’s world pacers at the event, and sian managed to find
the one she wanted (turned out to be the same guy who had paced for 1:45 at bath).

After much speculation the day before we’d finally decided on what we were going to
try for and it went well for both of us.
Myself & Rich.M set off a bit quick and i was about a minute up on my target time at
half way so did get a bit worried, but it all felt good so i just carried on.
Sian’s pacer did a great job and he crossed the line at pretty much bang on
1:40 (according to the Gun timeclock). Some might say shouting Ogi Ogi Ogi, Oi, Oi, Oi
at regular intervals was not the best use of vital oxygen - but we say it all adds to the fun.
There was a real sense of camaraderie in the group - maybe our leaders demand that we “don’t let
anyone fall off the back (at mile 10) as this is where the real work begins!!” made us stick together
- i for one was way too scared to slow down!!(Sian)

Thanks to all the friendly faces that we spotted on the way round - Matt & Marianne may as
well have run, they seemed to be around every corner!

Chepstow Harrier Results (that the live search throws up, and some that i knew were running)
Ivan Teed 1:19:15
Rich Matthews 1:21:52
Dave Somersall 1:28:11
Lou Summers 1:32:49
Helen Duffield 1:34:31
Sian Griffith 1:39:26
Rob Summers (Harrier by marriage) 1:51:47
James O’Grady 1:58:50
Carolin Lidgett 2:02:38
Helen Spiers 2:12:50
Sarah Lewis 2:14:43
Anne Masters 2:15:45
Claire Locke 2:38:21
David Locke 2:38:21
(I’m pretty sure there were some others, so if anyone wants their name added to the list, let me know)

We were a tad aprehensive on entering the event as we had heard various rumours
from previous years. When checking out the course map i was a bit worried that
one dog-leg section on the course might cause problems. As far as i know it was ok,
didn’t cause any problems for us.

From our viewpoint the organisation seemed really good, compared to our
Bath experience, the race started with perfect timing, and thier results system
seemed to be doing a pretty good job. As we got back to the car we both recieved our
text messages giving us our finish times.
The comentator/mc did a great job keeping us informed of time etc.
The course was flat and fast with a few ‘off road’ sections - shock horror!

Well done to all those who ran.

The recovery plan starts at 7pm with a phonecall to the Chinese, following shortly on our
return by a few large glasses of wine. Bon apetite

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