Crazy in Conwy

I had a great time on Sunday doing the half marathon, 5 of us from Stockport Harriers went up in a car early in the morning to the picturesque town of Conwy. We got up there with about 90 minutes to spare and so all went to a lovely coffee shop overlooking the sea. The atmosphere was cracking in there, the staff so pleasant and friendly and the camaraderie between all the runners was superb. The time spent in there went really quickly in a midst of micky taking, tales about previous races and winding each other up about the tough Great Orme hill ahead of us

Another reason we stayed in for so long was that it was a freezing day, but ideal for running, but having made the mistake in the past about dressing way to warm I was simply decked out in shorts and club vest.

Just under 1000 runners took assembled at the start all jumping up and down to try to keep warm The gun sounded and we were all off around the coast, through the town before climbing up the imposing Great Orme. My aim was to not stop running before I got to the top which I managed to do, it was tough but the views at the top (Snowdonia) were well worth the climb.




Of course what goes up must come down and the run down the other side was so much fun, well worth the effort. The course then took you back into the town, onto a sandy bike path, before the final race the end.

When I started the race I had no idea what I was aiming for, but was hoping for a steady pace and a to complete the race feeling good. I started the race with a lad called Simon from Harriers who is a really good runner, far better than me, with an aim to try to keep him in my sights for as long as possible. After a mile or two he was right in front of me, I was feeling fine so picked up the pace, went past him and stayed in front all the way around. Unbelievably for a race with such a big climb, I knocked 10 minutes off my PB coming home in 1 hour 37.

I looked for the race pictures I was hoping to see me running majestically around the course, looking at feeling good. Hmmm, sadly the pictures look as if I’m trying to pass the biggest kidney stone in the world. Not a good look.

The third picture especially isn’t my best ever (This won't link directly, so click on road running, Conwy, then type in number 943 to see my 3 pics. Dad click on the underlined sentence on this page, then on each picture to make them bigger. The one under 934 is slightly better)

I finished 129th out of 906, so pretty happy with that. When I started the race I had no idea what I was aiming for, but was hoping for a steady pace and a to complete the race feeling good. I ran with a lad called Simon from Harriers who is a really good runner, far better than me, with an aim to try to keep him in my sights for as long as possible. After a mile or two he was right in front of me, I was feeling fine so picked up the pace, went past him and stayed in front all the way around. Unbelievably for a race with such a big climb, I knocked 10 minutes off my PB coming home in 1 hour 37.

The next race coming up in the Stockport 10, quite a hilly course where I got around 1.22 last year, hoping to beat that, and maybe get close to the 1.15 mark. Who knows ? I'm also looking at entering a 20 miler in March of next year building up to Chester in October. Let the good times roll

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