Yes, whilst the rest of the world watches F1 cars scream around a racing track for the first time this year, I’m going to be running a race for the first time this year – around an F1 racing track at a rather more sedate speed. Fortunately, the two events are not at the same F1 racing track or it would get messy.
It’s my first ever half marathon event, and in fact my first race since my ill-fated 10K that brought on pneumonia back in mid November. 4 months to the day actually. Fortunately for this weekend I (touch wood) feel no signs of cough although I do have a slightly runny nose. Nevertheless, my health is reasonable. My neck is quite a bit better. My knees, less so, but I guess we shall see – they seem to be improving and I honestly think taking these last two weeks off was the Right Thing to Do. Hopefully the damaged muscle (or whatever) has repaired itself stronger than before, much as it did last time.
13.1 miles is a long way to run, make no mistake. Thankfully I know I can run 13.1 miles, having done it twice in training two and three weeks ago respectively. I also know that I feel just about dead by the end of it. I read somewhere that a half marathon is about three-quarters of the effort of a full marathon, given you have to run it a little faster. Let’s hope so!
The race starts at 12pm GMT. I am intending to finish in under 2.5 hours but we shall see. I was on course for 2hr15 minutes before I caught pneumonia but there’s not a hope I could do that now.
Unlike every other race I’ve done, this one is going to be interactive! Well, it’s going to be a test run for the main event itself (just over six weeks away now.. eek) in terms of keeping y’all updated and vice-versa. Yes, I’m going to be tweeting my way round.
But it’s more than just a few updates here and there – I’ve found an application that will upload my Google Maps location and any photos I wish to take! So not only will you get my exact location, but sometimes I’ll stick up a photo as well. I’ll also be able to read any encouragement you want to fire back at me via Twitter too.
I’ve no idea how well this is going to work, so basically this Silverstone half marathon is my trial run for the London marathon in terms of technology. It should give me a better idea over what will be realistic on the day!
If you want to follow me/encourage me, please follow/message my “barnpops_run” twitter feed. For the main marathon I’ll be using my usual “barnpops” twitter feed but as this is more of a test, I’m using a second account in case it all goes horribly wrong!
So, 46 hours to go before the half marathon.. and I have two photoshoots before then too! We’re staying in a hotel nearby the night before so hopefully the morning will be nice and simple.
In other news, a massive thank you to Lucy, Bic and Jo & Paddy for your generous sponsorship! I am getting closer and closer all the time – 73% of the way there now. I’m hoping I can break the £1,000 barrier with a month to go, but we shall see!
