Cardiff Half Marathon October 2012

http://www.cardiffhalfmarathon.co.uk/route

For those unfamiliar with Cardiff this looks a cracking route and a big improvement on last year in that they've chopped out the soul destroying loop along the dual carriageway flyover!

Takes in the Castle (start), Penarth, the Bay, city centre and the beautiful Roath Park Lake and looks very flat and fast. If you're looking for a PB or you're a first timer (I was last year) then I'd highly recommend it. Bring it on!

Another route change??

Might consider it although I wish they would reinstate the full marathon.

Soul-destroying is a good description of the dual carraigeway stretch from mile 6 to nearly 10....

I quite liked the dual carriageway stretch There's always one right

It was nice that supporters could watch you at the turn about point on the carriageway and then head back and see you again at the finish line. I guess this year supporters can see you between miles 8-9 and the finish.

Looks like another nice route, I think Cardiff just changes it every year to show off how many potential routes are possible.

Tempting.

Hello Andy, are considering this?

I'm looking to, but the accommodation is so expensive.  Anything around the race srat is almost £100 per night.   There are cheaper places further out but then i'll have the problem of getting to the start on race day.  I'd be coming up from Hampshire by train.

Hi LWJ - great to hear from you.

No, I've already entered the Tadley 10 for that day.  I ran this event last year and enjoyed it - apart from the dual carraigeway.....

I'm in....and this looks much better than last year.  Far better to get the rubbish bit of the route out of the way early I reckon.

Already signed up for this (again) and I am quite looking for to a different route as it is a lot different than any of the others.  Hopefully this year will be the best one yet.

I've just signed up. 

I really want to do this but will be my first half marathon. I'm thinking the route will be more interesting and less hilly than Bath which wont be until March anyway. Good to start with??

It was my first Half - it's almost flat and plenty of support so it's great for a first one

Good for you LWJ - did sort your your accomodation?

I was sadly very disappointed with the whole event last year, which is a shame because I consider Cardiff my home away from home.

The route was OK until we hit the 4ish miles of flyover dual carriageway which meant minimal crowd support.

They were handing out water with screw tops instead of sports lids so people were just dumping the bottle tops all over the place. I was fortunately nearer to the front so only had a few hundred to contend with, rather than the few thousand for the poor folks at the end.

They also only handed out one bottle of Lucozade and RAN OUT for people towards the back, who arguably need it more than folks at the front.

They ran out of medium t-shirts after only 90 minutes and the goodie bag had a bargain basement no-name energy drink.

For such a big city half marathon, I thought it was poor for what we all had to pay.

I am curious about the new course because it does look improved, but "once bitten, twice shy" as the saying goes.

Haven't actually entered yet but have booked travelodge @ £19 in anticipation. did this last year as my last race before an enforced 4 month break from running and am determined to do it again this year as a sort of therapy type reason!

I've signed up. First ever half marathon, following on from my first 10k last weekend. Training starts next Monday!

Was looking forward to starting training next week but I have managed to pick up a couple of little niggles recently so plan to delay starting until August and treat myself to a new pair of running daps as I think my marathon training has taken its toll on them and they have given up on me.  I don't think this is going to be a PB year but would like to get round in a reasonable time. 

I just hope that I can shift my injuries so I can run the Cardiff Half again and make it 10 from 10.

Not done Cardiff before and was hoping to do it as a season finale. I thought it was meant to be fast and flat though? The elevation chart on the route looks considerably unflat - in fact uphill from 5to 11 miles!

Wobster - it's not a massive uphill, more a gentle incline really

Ah, ok...so still counts as fast-ish?

Yep it's pretty fast.  Unless you're me, of course