Shakespeare Half - Bloody Hell!
An early Sunday wake up at 7am for the journey down to the Stratford Half Marathon beckoned. The weather was warm, but not as hot as predicted, probably around 14 degrees but quite muggy with a gentle breeze about. I was anxious to carbo load and to make sure I was as well hydrated as possible but I perhaps went overboard with this and kept needing the toilet. Luckily about 15 minutes before the start I hopped into the McDonalds just a few minutes away, but even still by the time we started I could have done with going again. Being a fairly large half marathon there were around 3,300 runners (inc. marathon) packed onto the road next to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Even though I was at the start with over 10 minutes to go I couldn't get anywhere near the front so eventually ended up a few rows further back (about 300 runners ahead of me). I wasn't so bothered about this as it meant that I couldn't run too fast to begin with, plus with my first experience of chip tim...