Lacock Half Marathon
The 18th June 2017 was a glorious sunny Sunday morning.
Up at 6am, bosh the Weetabix down, out by 7am, means only one thing...RACE DAY. Lacock National Trust Half Marathon organised by the nice folk at Relish Running. We arrived in Lacock at a 8:30am and I collect my bib number from a very jolly volunteer who only seemed too happy to dance along to Chumbawumba's Tubthumpin' that was being played over the loudspeaker.
I start with the usual pin the bib to the vest routine, whilst listening to Chumbawumb'a tubthimpin', followed by a quick visit to the loo whilst listening to...yeah you guessed it. They had the same tune on repeat and it quickly became irritating. When I booked this race a few months ago, my main concern was how warm the day could be knowing full well that in previous years on the same date when I have ran the Caerphilly 10k, the weather has been boiling! And so it was that my worst fears came true. The lovely Carol Kirkwood had forecast in her words "Scorchio" and so it proved to be. In fairness though there was a scattering of cloud cover and the early thought was that the run might not be too bad. Oh how I was proven to be wrong! 9:30 came and the HMers were called to the start line. The Pre-race briefing seemed to take an eternity and the chap's loudspeaker was broken so other than the 10 people closest to him no-one else could hear what was being said so I did my usual thing of following the runner in front! The race started alongside the beautiful Lacock Abbey, which apparently is home to the first photographic negative and where they filmed Harry Potter. The course then headed out of the village and around the surrounding countryside along closed roads. The course itself consisted of 3 laps, all of it undulating, mostly road running through some spectacular scenery, a bit of off-road and back to the historic village with splendid and ancient 'olde' world buildings. At 10k the race was looking good having completed this part in 53 minutes, heart rate under control, lungs operating within capacity. Getting through 9 miles, I looked that might be on for a sub 1:55h time, but this is where the wheels decided to fall off. The cloud cover parted and full sun started beating down. The aforementioned Ms. Kirkwood's forecast was spot on, and I struggled the last 4 miles of the final undulating multi-terrain lap where just breaking into a walk was difficult. At this point just surviving seemed more appropriate and then came the final mile. All runners know that never mind how hard a race is, you got to look good crossing the finish line, so I manned-up to the final mile and pushed on finishing a what I decided was a respectable 2:05 hours. All in, a good effort through 9 to 10 miles and very warm temperatures should put me in a reasonable position to enjoy my next half marathon in Aarhus, Denmark where if it happens to be cooler I should push on for a PB of sub 1:50h. Ratings: 1) Value for money, expensive at £31 and no race T. But in fairness a quality bit of bling and lots of free chocolate, crisps, fruit, and lots of water before, during and post-race 2) Course was a lumpy 3 lap affair which I would usually turn my nose up to, but on this day and in this heat you are never too far away from help should you need. Very low on the Owen-Ovey Scale for those that like the odd impure word. 3) First aid. The Knights on St John were present with both the Ambulance and a small kit car looking thing for crossing the off-road parts if needed - clever people! 4) Weather, supplied by Relish Running at no extra cost was excellent if a bit too hot. Definitely one vest required on the Fear Factor 5) Danger levels. Very low on the Batemen scale although some care crossing the farm fields and if the weather had been wet then the Gok Wans would have got quite muddy according to the Westley Scale. 6) Overall, I would give this a 9 out of 10, held back purely by not having a commemorative T-shirt.
