Birmingham Half Marathon

as far as i am aware, the running club i belong to, a large club in birmingham

has yet to be informed that entries are open

they know because i read it on here and posted the web site to to our web site manager

I called up birmingham council, and sent a cheque to avoid the 'processing fee' online, got a letter back saying its all gone through, and i shall be recieving a runners pack closer to the time.

 has anyone tried running the route yet?

Hl, DW, me too, thought about it, but have a race tomorrow, a half mara up in God's Country (that's Yorkshire, if you were wondering!) so not got round to it yet.

Not sure how comfortable I'd be running through Newtown on my own, no pack or marshalls (safety in numbers) - OK, I'm exaggerating a little, although a colleague who used to work there still calls it 'Injun Country' I'm sure it's not that bad . Some of the road junctions could be a bit hairy, though Fiveways for example does have subways, and running through the city centre would be a bit stop-and-start. As the route is still 'subject to change' it might be best to leave it a while.

I presume the race packs will be sent out the usual fortnight before the event.

Hi DW & Road-Kill,

you're probably right RK, i guess it would be very stop start, only reason i asked was as i wanted to know how flat/undulating it is, i may go around in my bike someday just to get an idea. i seem to be motivated more to run well seeing as its a 'home' half-marathon.

also looking at the route (subject to change of course) there's two parts from what i saw where we'll be running alongside runners who are ahead/faster (on the other side of the road), the longest part i've seen is almost a mile i think, i usually find that off putting  but maybe it'll make me speed up rather then get depressed...

I ran a 10k in Sutton Park recently involving a few U-turns, which I'm not keen on as it interrrupts the rythm, but I actually quite liked seeing just how many were ahead of me, and then how many behind! On the half marathon I'm sure many of the leaders will be past the second time before I get there the first time (did that make sense?), so I'm not sure what effect it'll have.

Well, I'm setting off for York now so I won't be posting for a few days - TTFN.

'tis good news Kavlar!  The more the merrier.  I hope it is a success. RK - it's nothing too sinister (undulations wise), but it wouldn't hurt probably throwing in a few hill repeats into your training to get the muscle groups recruited for this.

As for Newtown - LOL at your comments!  I have run through a few times during daylight and found the worst danger is the Travel WM bus drivers to be honest - they're dedicated Road Killers just around there!!!!!  I know the course itself (subject to change!!) very well, and I would agree that it's undulating but not hilly.  Small inclines not too steep rather than long drags.  But then, one person's long drag is another person's bump on a level playing field - I'm sure I'll get shot down somewhere for indicating it's not too hilly, but there you go - feel free as it's a free country (TG!)

Just back home after the Yorks Wolds Half-mara. First really hilly race, and first with major off-road bits, so was hoping for around PB + 10 mins - thrilled to bits therefore with my (unofficial) time of PB + 26 secs!

After that I'm sure B'ham will seem as flat as the proverbial mill pond.