Cardiff Half-Marathon update

 The Cardiff Half-Marathon took place on Sunday, with an estimated 29,000 participants. My wife and I stayed overnight so as to make our morning as stress-free as possible, but even so, we were caught out by the crowds around the start area, and it was a bit of a struggle to get to the right position for my allocated start time. All came good in the end, though, and I was able to settle down and enjoy the extremely positive and welcoming atmosphere generated by the other runners and their supporters.

Here's me with Graham, who was running his fourth half-marathon, and also running in aid of Alzheimer's UK. Graham got a big shout-out over the loudspeaker, and I believe it mentioned that he was 70. Well done, Graham, and good luck with future runs.

Two nice ladies, one from the Midlands (in yellow) and the other from the Netherlands, so I got to practise my terrible rusty Dutch on the poor lady. She took it very well. Hope the run was a success, both.

With Lillie Mai, who chatted kindly to my wife while I was off dealing with some left property. Hope you had a great one, Lillie Mai!

Next to me, a couple of friendly runners from my neck of the woods in the Valleys. The one in white said he might be up for parkrun! Come on, you know you want to. Hope the run went well, both.

The Cardiff half-marathon course takes you on a nice tour of the bay and the city:

My wife was stationed at around the 7 mile mark so caught this photo of me as I passed our hotel:

By this point it was clear that the forecast rain was going to hold off so I gladly disposed of my cap for the rest of the run. I was feeling pretty good and managed to keep myself hydrated thanks to the water stations every 3 miles. There were also lots of people handing out sweets and drinks and so on along the route, so it was easy to keep your energy levels up. A big shout-out to all these kind people, including the members of the general public who just turned up with boxes of mars bars, etc.

I crossed the finish line just over 2 and a half hours after I started:

For which I was pretty pleased. I definitely found this run somewhat easier than the three unofficial halfs I did for myself during the year. I think that was a combination of a nice smooth running surface, not too many up and down bits, the ability to keep hydrated, and the great encouraging atmosphere of the other runners and supporters.

Here's me at the Alzheimer's UK stand at the completion of the event:

I felt very pleased and relieved that the whole thing had gone well. As we headed back to our car, the heavens opened, so we were rather fortunate that the rain had held off until then. The cool conditions, with just a light breeze, were pretty ideal for running. It would have been so much harder on a warm, sunny day.

Many of you have supported my run via the Alzheimer's UK fundraising page, for which I'm very grateful. I'll post a final link to the page now as it is still possible to tip some funds into it, should you so wish. Thank you all (and my wife for her amazing support, too).

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990