Wokingham Half Marathon 2013

I signed up just before Christmas and I'm running on Sunday. Will be my first race in nearly 18 months. Excited!

Looking forward to sunday. Ran last year after horrible bout of food poisoning on the friday (staggered round in 1.58 )  Will bring a bin bag thanks for tip 

after your description Monty - what will the bin bag be for?

looks like i'll have 4 top layers on all 13 miles - Phil ( the boss man ) he'll be wrapped up as normal for this time of year - i think its our 9th Wokingham ?? - certainly wont be any 1:48's - maybe 2:20 ish ?? we'll see

Muttley wrote (see)

Mr. K. wrote (see)

So when is this again????

Well hello there Mr K. Are you with us for this one, or admitting you missed it?

I will be there bright & early

Bin bag - cheapest waterproof gear I know.

I'll look out for you, Mr K. Say hello when you fly past me ...

3rd year on the trot for me. Weather looks gash.

Though I've bailed out of this on account of the likely conditions. It seems I would have to cancel anyway on account of my elderly mother being hospitalised.

She appears to be in a stable condition but under the circumstances "running around in the rain in my underwear" would be deemed somewhat frivolous.

Bad news Ric, hope all turns out well there.

Does give you a proper reason though, as the original one was ridiculous

Cheers SG, the old dear has survived the surgery and has been moving around.

The original reason in the normal order of things would be ridiculous if it wasn't for the temperature of the rain being forecast at only 3 or 4 deg.

At Aldershot it was raining and 6 degrees. Not really windy. That was testing but only 3.7 miles. I was frozen even then. However it was only for 22 minutes.

In New Zealand I ran in the tail end of a tropical cyclone. Now that was rain. 

Rain isn't a problem in itself. But imagine being blasted all over by water from a cold tap for 80 minutes. That could be tomorrow.

Being frozen down to 10 minute mile pace isn't something I want to do.

Again!

Hope your mum is ok Ric.

Good luck tomorrow everyone.  Rain, cold and wind are not a good combination.

Did John Austin Half in Brockenhurst last March - when I left home it was 9ºc and bright, so I went in a vest and shorts, no gloves, hat, By the time the race started it was 2ºc, raining and windy. I thought I was going to lose my fingers at one point! Had someone pouring tea into my mouth at the end because I couldn't hold a cup.

Tomorrow I will be better dressed! I reckon tights, t-shirt, hat & gloves ought to cover it

Sounds like the Bracknell Half last April. Feckin' freezing it was, plus heavy rain and a near gale. I was reduced to a shuffle by the last three miles because I was so cold and wet my legs just stiffened up. Spent the entire train journey home shivering. In April!

I shall be prepared tomorrow.

Thanks PipG.

She worries a lot. She would worry about me being frozen daft in the race.

I don't think she needs that right now.

7.36am & Monty goes searching for a hat.....  and some gloves....

Well that was a bit of a mud fest. The walk to the start seemed a bit odd too whereby the entire field was expected to shuffle down a very narrow path to get to their starting point.

Big thanks though to all the marshalls out there on a fairly awful wet and windy day. Thanks all...

delighted with that one. took 2 mins 12 off the pb, and got a shiny new pb of 1.15.41.

The course seems to get hillier the faster I get

Conditions were plain bad for the last 3miles, just to combine with the inclines on the way back in!

However, today was one of those rare days it didn't screw things up!

Well, that was character-building. Well done on the pb Stevie - but it just marks you out as a bit of wimp compared to us endurance athletes who are out there in the evil weather for nearer two hours

Great event as always but seriously, I would ask the organizers to think about the layout of the start venue and whether they can do anything about that quagmire by the tents. We've had these conditions before, and I know it's February, but it is a drag to deal with ankle-deep mud before the off.

And good to see the new reduced-fat Mr K ...

agree with you muttley - as i knew what it was likely to be like, i brought a spare pair of shoes and several socks.

Weather wasnt great, but wasnt as bad as i was expecting really. PB with 1.25-ish...missed the start with my watch, so not exactly sure.