Grand Union Canal Half Marathon

Thank you Claire & thank you Rachel.

Big hugs to you both

Much appreciated.

i'm very excited about this run. it's my first half-marathon.

i had planned to take the bus to the starting line, but tlf has screwed up my travel plans. i'm now going to take a train from paddington to west drayton. so if anyone needs a spot on the bus, do feel free to take mine. there's not a number on the bus voucher, but you can probably just use my name - reen polonsky. 

reen

p.s. are there going to be any other slow runners in this race? i usually only do the 10k, where i tend to be in the top half. i dread being the last one here.

Hi everyone,

Please can I ask you not to make any more swaps now - the data has been sent off and we can't make any more changes. 

If it stays like today you are going to have such a nice run! 

Claire

Hi hope everyone enjoyed the race as much as I did.

Freezing, wet start but it cleared up nicely.  Very interesting run which I really enjoyed.  A little tough under foot but I'm a wimpy road running, not used to "off roading".

Really could do with some toilets at the start and one more water station but other than that, a really well organised run especially as its the first one.

Thanks to Claire and all the other organisers.

That was excellent. Great course and great running surface. I got off to a good pace and managed to hold it until about the last three miles, when I faded somewhat. Those little step-ups by the locks broke up what could have been a monotonous run, and that last climb to the finish just about did for me. 1:40:30 (ish) is pretty good by my standards. I wonder if it's enough for a top 100 ...

Some of those canal boats are a bit smoky ... and that turd farm between miles 7 and 8 chucked up a bit ... that was definitely my fastest split.

Nice medal too. One small point - 'twould be nice to have the year on the ribbon, but that's a trifle.

Organization was like clockwork.

Big thumbs up from me for PP Running. They've brought two great events to the race calendar, both of which are accessible to non-motorists like me. I hope they're as happy with the outcome as I am. I'll be back next year for this one and the Up Tow Down Flow (or is it Down Tow Up Flow?).

Well, that was exactly what it said on the tin! 13.1 miles along the Grand Union Canal!

Enjoyed the run though it is a bit ankle wrenching in places - especially where you can't see what is under the leaves.  Gorgeous when the sun came out.  Amusing to see the slightly hungover bemused expressions on some of the boat owners faces!

Nice chunky medal, slightly ....errr... unusual mug!  No loos at the start my only complaint too, though it was nice to see the blokes having to queue up too in Tesco for once!

Well done PP! 

 My first race and I really enjoyed it.  Hurrah! to all the organisers for their hard-work.  Boo! to the scoudrels who stole the 3rd mile water station.  Will the 'official' times be posted on the web somewhere then?

I missed a freebie. Damn!

Still got a medal though. I like medals

beautiful run! i couldn't believe the weather. this was the nicest morning in a very long time. and for someone who lives in central london, the scenery was a icing on the cake.

really, it was the perfect run for me. until the 6th mile, that is, when something happened to my hip. for the remainder of the run, every step sent a wave of pain through all of the joints in that leg. it was as if someone had removed all of the cartilidge. but that's the thing with point-to-point runs. you have to keep going. i would've stopped by mile 7, but i didn't know how else i would get to my bag. so i ran part of the way and walked part of the way. it was very frustrating. i haven't had to stop and walk in the middle of a run in over a decade. i finally made it to the finish line at around 2:20, a full half an hour later than i had planned. and i wasn't out of breath, or even sweaty at that point.

but i'm glad that i did finish it. and i'll be back next year. how cool would it be to improve by a whole half hour?! i'm looking forward to it.

What a lovely run-thank you Claire Mac (& Rachel reynolds for the bus seat).

Unique route,lovely weather and atmosphere an organisation.

Hope the guy who fell and banged his head at mile 9 who required an ambulance is ok. 

Minor criticisms... need more toilets,water and maybe a t-shirt (Stroud half did nice ones-just copy them) or an energy bar/soup.

See you all next year!