Royal Parks Half Marathon
‘Lucy and I both entered the ballot last year, it is a run that we have both wanted to take part in for a while. We were both successful and looked forward to the race. We were not expecting it to be one of the hottest October days, but we were both looking forward to the route and running round the Royal Parks.
It was a 4:30am start for us to make sure we got to the race start on time. The atmosphere at the event village was very relaxed which always makes me calm at the start of a race, we did not have too much hanging around and a 9:30 start was a nice time of day to start. We got into our start pen and proceeded to walk to the start, this is not a big race compared to other London Races, a maximum of 16,000 people. The race started and we headed off to Buckingham Palace, for those of you who have heard me talking about my London marathon experience, I failed to see Buckingham Palace at the end!! I did not miss it this time as we ran passed it twice, we did a loop out and saw some sights, Big Ben, the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, then headed up the Mall back towards Buckingham Palace, it felt very special running up the Mall.
We then went back into Hyde Park where the race started, this was the half way point and I mentioned to Lucy that we still had over 6 miles to go and not sure how we were going to fit it in, I need not have worried, the park is huge and a lovely place to run around, lots of weaving around and seeing other runners, trying to work out where we were going next.
The support around the whole course was fantastic and the volunteers were great, although I will point out that Lucy got a huge amount of support and cheering and I got very little, it became a running joke every time a spectator shouted ‘Come on Lucy’! The race finished in the park running next to the Royal Alberts Hall. I would highly recommend this run to anyone, such a lovely route and so much to see. It is definitely my favourite half, made all the more better by getting to finally run around London with Lucy.’
Kerrie
Official Times:
Lucy Mc – 02:29:25
Kerrie – 02:29:25
Marriott’s Way 10k
Official Times:
Will – 0:49:03.8
John – 0:54:49.8
Marie P – 0:57:03.3
Debbie – 1:06:04.9
Chloe – 1:20:13.6
