Race Day Preview - Merthyr Half Marathon

First half marathon of the year!

Nice easy trip as this one is my homeland, my home town, my place of residence. Merthyr Tydfil. The 13.1 miles will cover from the College down the taff trail on what can only be described as an undulating course. Also a narrow course, oh so narrow.

Also Amman United rugby star Shane Williams will be starting the race!

Thinking about it, I'm not 100% looking forward to this one. I've had a bit of s phlegm-y cough all week and, did I mention how narrow the course is?

While narrow, it is pretty scenic, the taff trail is a nice run and if it stays dry it'll be warm enough with tree shade at regular intervals. The course has changed this year and misses out the wonder of a long set of steps half way. Instead we'll be waving at the steps as we turn at the top.

This will be a good test, but entry depending I'd imagine I'm more likely to post decent times in Swansea or Cardiff later in the year.

So... targets:

Baseline:
1:58:00 (9:00 min/ml)

Achievable:
1:55:00 (8:46 min/ml)

Would be nice, but maybe beyond me this time:
1:50:00 (8:23 min/ml)

1:58 is last years time, so that needs to be done I think and I think 1:55 is possible if I run well enough. Now I've been rubbish with target settings so far so I've made the top one very unlikely. 1:50 would tie a PB, which was set in Cardiff, a much much easier course. 

It's a 10am start and I'll be around from 9ish supporting my kids in their races, so come say hi! Also looking like my last one in a Merthyr vest, for a while at least. May actually go for a tank top!

Club night - in a supportive mood!

Not every run is about slamming 5:30 miles through the evening sunshine. Sometimes it's good to sit back and help runners a little earlier on their journey.

Sadly I have no qualifications and haven't got a Scooby Doo how to do that.

I do however, offer myself as a 'Support Coach' if needed on club nights. This basically I means I help, back mark make sure nobody gets lost and the like, As we've been doing more technical sessions, with proper coaches who know what they'r doing, lately I haven't been required, but last night, a coach shortage threw me into business end of things.

As a result I (think I) helped out, helped someone run the furthest they'd ever gone and hopefully made a vaguely positive difference!

The route was:



You can't argue it's a different type of satisfaction to a quick run or a PB. But it's good and a type of rewarding I could get used too.

In other news, following the weekends exploits in Coopers Field have reduced my RunBritain handicap to it's lowest ever value.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not clear on how this works, but I know it's getting better!