Great Manchester Half Marathon
There is no way I would have paid £51 to run 13.1 miles on tarmac, or any thing else for that matter, if I hadn't been wearing my Welsh Masters vest. This years race incorporated an England v Wales Masters International.
When my alarm went off at 0430am yesterday morning the previous nights 4 pints and 11pm bedtime felt like a mistake but a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea later got me going. I left just after 5am and arrived at the Ashton West park and ride car park at 6.30am which included 2 McDonald's toilet stops. There was only one other car there which was worrying.
The signage in the car park threatened a £200 fine for non payment, however there was nowhere to pay anyway, but users of the Tram and retail park could park for free. I climbed the steps to the tram stop and there was a couple who were also running. Although there was a cash payment machine on the platform they advised me that the best way to pay was to tap my credit card on this reader and again when I got off at St Peters Square and the system would work out how many zones I had traveled through and charge me accordingly. I chose this method and also for the return journey but I have no idea how much it cost and even less idea as to how they link my car to the CC I used to pay for the tram. Perhaps they don't link and I'll get a £200 fine in a few days!
The tram arrived just after 7am and it took nearly 35 mins to get to St Peters Square, passing through some right dumps. Fortunately, on alighting the tram there were dozens of portaloos with only a short queue at each so ten minutes and a short walk later I was at the Masters tent pinning my M65 target to the back of my vest. Another queue for the bag drop left me 15 minutes for a warm up to the start pen. The usual loud music, high fiving and selfie sticks were going on and I started to feel a tad claustrophobic, jammed in the pen with over 10,000 others.
With 5 minutes to go I spotted a row of portaloos down an adjacent side street, with no queues, so I hopped out of the pen and made a quick deposit. I climbed back into the pen and realised that everyone had shuffled forward so I was further back but happened to be next to the 1:30 pacer, which was my ambitious target time.
The gun sounded and after a 20 odd second shuffle through a chicane I crossed the start line, noticing Brendan Foster's beaming pumpkin shaped face. His bank balance had probably just pinged through on his phone!
My plan was to stay with the 1:30 pacer until halfway but after 2 miles I could see a couple of English and Welsh M60 and M65 vests ahead that appeared to be slowly pulling away. I was feeling comfortable so I increased my pace and slowly reeled them by mile 5. After staying behind them for a mile I pushed on and then saw ahead of me Dave Gibson a Welsh M70!
I reeled him in too and went straight past him. It is not the most inspiring course, mainly on what appears to be ring roads and dual carriageways and the only view that I can recall was of The Ethiad Staduim which was eerily quiet after Saturday's surprise. There was also some far too loud music blasting out at some junctions and the only other thing of note was a fat drag queen calling me honey as I ran past it!
Around mile 9 I had half a mile of feeling tired so I took my one and only Maurten gel and fortunately there was a water station shortly after so I could wash it down and also pour a bottle of water over my head which refreshed me. I kept my pace going but by the last 2 miles could not go any faster. With half a mile to go an English M65, Martin Walters, came along side me and then passed me. I stayed with him but with 200 yards go he pulled away, I tried to respond but there was nothing left in my legs. He crossed the line a few seconds ahead of me. I think that my lack of sprint/track/speed work or reps of any kind had found me wanting and cost me when I most needed it.
He was doubled up, leaning over a barrier as I shook his hand and congratulated him on his win. He then thanked me for dragging him around telling me he had been on my heels from mile 8! I had no idea as I never looked behind me once during the race and if I had known I might have tried to drop him.
I was a little disappointed but more than happy with my time of 1:26:21 and 294th overall. I made my way back to the Masters tent and to my surprise and delight I found out that I was 1st M65 beating Martin by 4 seconds on chip time, on which the results were based. Chatting to him afterwards he told me that he was right at the front of the pen with all the other England Masters.
I spotted a couple of Fell Runners one being Tom Roberts of Eryri who was 1st M35 and 5th overall in the race. Paul Fauset of Dark Peak also won a Masters medal but I'm not sure of his ccategory.
I was going to stay and watch the start of the 10K but missed it due to our presentation going on and then it started to rain so I hopped on the tram back to Ashton West.
Chuffed to bits with my run, proud to represent Wales and make a decent fist of it.
