Reading Half Marathon 2013

Wow, that was a cold and wet run! Hoped to get a pb of just over 1:37 but made the rookie mistake of going off to fast and really struggled over the last couple of miles, finished just under 1:39.

Thanks to all the volunteers who turned up in the appalling weather to make it a largely hassle free event. My only gripe was those new fangled water bottles, not seen them before. Tried tugging the tag off with my teeth and then realised that you just give them a big squeeze and they shoot out a jet of water. I choked with the pressure and spent the next 30 secs coughing and spluttering

I did that too reefseeker, got the hang of it in then though, thought they were miles better than plastic bottles for twiting your ankles on.....

wayne.allen wrote (see)

I was further back started feet in front of the 2.05 pacer, got overtaken by him going up to the university park (3miles), but kept him in sight and got him back going down towards the a33 (10 miles) and pushed to keep him behind me. Overheard him mention to some he knew that he was 30secs fast... Hit the finish at 2.04, but still got beaten by the wateraid camel!!

Great race great crowds, and the first time I have actively used a pacer so if anyone knows him, then please buy him a drink on my behalf!!

Wayne

That's Martin Bush - I spoke to him along the A33 section.  He runs a marathon most weeks, and has done 500+!!!

Andy Ward 8, yes that 1:30 pacer was off. He passed me somewhere around mile 4/5, and I overtook him a little bit after mile 11 and finished comfortably ahead of him. I clocked 1:30:17. Hmmmmm.

Im with you Johnny2323 - totally disgusting and no need - If your that desparate use your shirt so you can continue covered in snot rather than hurling it on the legs of the people next to you

I did it in 2:04, it's my 2nd half (Did Warrington last year) and beat the time by 6 minutes  - thought it was a great day and a fab atmosphere. Was funny me, hubby & friend trying to get dry and changed in the car, our 11 yr old and 19 yr old didn't know where to look! It was a long slow 200 miles drive back!

Rabbit spotted at around 40 seconds...

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2013-03-16/reading-half-marathon-2013/

Fantastic, 1h37 for my first half in the cold & wet! A massive thank you to all the marshalls and supporters, you were brilliant!!!

My third and worst cold and wet Reading Half.

I thought the organisation for collecting kitbags from the 1-6000 tent was appalling. Don't know about you guys but I became very cold waiting in the rain for some 30-40 minutes. I have run a lot of races around the country and this part of the organisation was the worst I have experienced.

On the excess spit issue this has always been very common and those moaning about it probably have not run many large events. If and when I need to do this I always look about first to make sure no one is in the firing line...........

Thanks for all the locals who turned out to cheer us on. I was very tempted by the free beer at The Nags Head and well done the camel and their Sheikh collector!

Thanks kind soul for posting the results.

Gutted that I was over 2 hours by more or less the exact time I spent waiting to use the portaloo at the 4 mile point. I appreciate that this was a rookie mistake on my part for needing to use the loo mid-race, but when you have over 15,000 runners I was surprised that there were so few portaloos (comparing to the BUPA Great Run Manchester 10k). Oh well - no point p*ssing and moaning!

The locals cheering everyone on and handing out sweets was really nice and other than the odd spitter / person randomly stopping right in front, it was a very positive experience I think that, considering the elements, it was fairly well organised as well (and the fact they were apologetic about the bus queue is fair enough).