Bupa Birmingham Great Run

I signed up to the Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon ages ago and wasn't really sure how big of a race it really was until I received my race pack and I found out I'd be running with 18,000 runners! This was exciting as my largest race had only been a couple of thousand and more recent races had been nearer the 50 - 100 runner mark.

My race number arrived and all that was going through my head the week before was just how little running I had actually been doing since hurting my ankle, going on holiday and generally losing my running mojo...I'm sure it was out there somewhere I just wasn't sure where! My longest run in the last 5 weeks had been 6 miles only half the distance I would be running on the day but it was too late to do much about it without risking injury so my intention was to turn up and run and hope for the best. The best being 2 hours 30 mins and the worse anything over that....

My running buddy for the weekend was Stewart who I previously ran with for some of the Grim Reaper Ultra. As he was travelling a distance he had booked a hotel and kindly offered me a bed in his room with breakfast which was greatly appreciated.

The view of the finish line from our hotel room

The journey I suppose began on the Saturday at New Street station in Birmingham we met up found the hotel and went out for a pasta meal.. without the pasta! Nowhere that did pasta meals had free tables so we opted for half a roast chicken and chips. In bed by 11pm I thought I'd get a good nights sleep and not have the stress of getting to the race the next morning in the car... lovely.. until I was woken up by lots of noise and thought we have over slept! A quick look at the clock told me it was 5am! After dozing off again we woke at 7am looked out of the hotel window and found that the finish line and most of the run equipment and camera stands had been erected...whilst we were sleeping.. or not as the case may be!

After having breakfast and attaching my race number to my top I wondered just what estimated finish time I had put down when I entered as I was in the Pink Wave the last one to set off.. however Stewart was in the Green Wave and had put down a time of 2:28, I must have put a really slow time down but Stewart kindly said he would change down to the Pink wave so we could run together as I wasn't allowed to move up a wave.

We ventured outside around 9am and it was freeeezzzing! and foggy! the race was being broadcast on Channel 5 but was being delayed due to the foggy conditions. I braved it with my t-shirt, after all I'd warm up later. We soon met up with May who was hungover to say the least..dirty stop out!

May was also in the Green wave and again I started thinking I'd be in with the first timers in the Pink wave! Around 10.30am we set off to find the starting pen and I was right we found ourselves amongst the charity runners and loads of first timers and had discussed the fact that a pb may not be on the cards as we would be stuck behind lots of slow people. I told Stewart that morning the race would either go really really bad or really really good I had a feeling it would be nothing in between. We were the very last wave to set off, all of the waves were split to left and right sections with left leaving last... groan! at 11.16am I finally started running! I got over the starting mat and started hop footing around people that were already walking. Looking at the garmin we were running at just over 9 minute miles, quicker than I ever run except the odd couple of miles recently but I've never kept up that pace for more than 2 miles. I decided to take what I could and maybe put some fast miles in the bank early then I could afford to slow down later. Just after the first mile Stewart began struggling with his leg, he had been running races back to back weekends for a few weeks and told me to go ahead and he would catch me up. I remember shouting to him he definitely will catch me up as no way could I carry on running this fast for long. I carried on and the second mile was done in just over 9 minutes again I felt good and told myself I would do the first 3 miles at this pace then back off abit, I wanted to run the whole distance rather than go out to quick and have to walk for miles. The rest is abit of a blur from there until I got to mile 4 and found I was still going at just over 9 minute mile pace I thought what the hell lets go until mile 6 THEN slow down... I remember running past a yellow sign saying MILE 6 and looking at my watch and looking at my watch again and again just to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I had ran a 10k in less than an hour! I had never done this before, I turned to the man running next to me, a complete stranger at this point and I suddenly shouted at him that I had just ran 10k in under an hour.. he looked at me like I had told him aliens were descending and we would all be turned in giraffes. So I just pulled a silly grin at him and sped off. I couldn't believe what was happening, at this point I was so pleased with myself I had to refrain from getting teary and emotional I still had 7 miles to go and it could have all gone downhill from there.

There was loads of supporters lining the streets and as I had my name on my top every couple of minutes people would be clapping and shouting my name telling me how great I was doing.. I remember thinking to myself these people know my name... this is amazing! The cheer buses were fantastic, people sat on open topped buses at street corners playing music, there were brass bands playing the Rocky theme tune and even though I was tiring a little I still pumped my hands in the air with the other runners. It was nice to clap and cheer at these supporters too as after all they had sacrificed their Sunday morning to cheer on people they don't know in the cold.. or maybe it was to get on tv! Miles 7 to 9 went incredibly slow I kept looking at my watch what felt like every minute but I was still pleased and quite astounded that I was still doing just over 9 minute miles. I knew I would be on for a pb and started working out some sums in my head, I reckoned if I slowed down to 10 minute miles for the last 3 miles I'd be near a 2 hour marathon. (this I might add was something I told Stewart the night before jokingly would be achievable) You are probably wondering where Stewart was in all this... the truth is I didn't know. I knew he hadn't gone past me but I knew he wouldn't have dropped out and would be just behind. You may say it was a bit mean of me to not stop for him but I did feel bad. I knew he would be fine! At mile 9 I went through a mist shower thing to cool the runners down this I didn't like much as when I went through it and came out the other side I felt like I'd been put into slow motion although I was still running the same speed.. if that makes any sense?

Coming round to mile 11 and I had previously been told it was all uphill and they weren't wrong, it was hill a mile long, they even said on Channel 5 afterwards the record holder of the mens elite athletes said it killed the race for him. It was tough and I had to walk for some of it mainly to take my inhaler and to steady myself. Mile 11 to 12 were all hills and my pace went down to 11 minute miles so the 2 hour half was out the window.. still I had some ummphh left in me and coming down the last half a mile there were hundreds of people cheering and I floored it... I felt like a Cheetah on speed! Crossing over the finish line I wasn't sure if my garmin was telling me the correct time as it had lost signal a few times running under bridges. A few seconds later I received my tx message from Bupa confirming I had finished in 2 hours 8 minutes and 9 seconds that's a whole 14 minutes of my previous best. I couldn't believe it I had maintained a constant speed of 9 minute miles for 11 miles I felt like super woman... without the cape but with really achy legs instead.

I waited for Stewart and knew he couldn't have been far behind me and he came in at 2 hours 23 minutes 53 seconds he had done so well considering the amount of running he had been doing of late and his injury. He wasn't even annoyed that I'd left him.. I did feel bad but he knew it was for the best so I could have achieved what I did. So the Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon was the day I turned into a super runner. I had overtaken a lot of runners including not just those from the green wave that set off before just before me but people in orange and white that had a massive head start (they must have so lied about their estimated times to start earlier) I finished according to Bupas official results 7498th not bad considering that is out of 18,000 runners!

Finally my thoughts are with the family and friends of Kevin Paterson a runner who sadly passed away at the run yesterday.