| It was hot day for the Windsor Half on Sunday – very hot!!! The journey hadn’t started very well, with lane closures around Bracknell causing a long tailback and queues of traffic from Bracknell to Ascot. And then when we got to the great park – more queues! I finally got parked up at 12:35 – only 25 minutes until the start! I always like to get to a race at least an hour before the start, so I left the family and headed off for a warm up jog to the loos. Had a quick stretch and then looked for a place around the 2 hour mark – I was hoping for around 1:55. Saw Tom, Ann and Jane from WVR for brief chat before waiting for the start. I didn’t hear a hooter or anything, but a cheer went up and the crowd started inching forward. It took over 5 minutes to cross the start line and actually run, by which time the leaders were already up past the Copper Horse!! I did the first mile in about 9:18 and then settled into just under 9 minute mile pace, which was quite comfortable until about the 9th mile when I started to flag. I’d forgotten how undulating (hilly!) this course was and each nice downhill stretch was followed by a horrible uphill stretch. |
The water stations were frequent and much appreciated in the heat, and lucozade was also offered at most of the stations. A hosepipe with spray was also welcome at the last station. There were a few casualties in the heat, and I saw at least 3 people collapsed with paramedics in attendance – I hope they were all right!! The last mile down from the copper horse seemed to go on forever, but I managed to finish with a bit of a spurt when I saw the family cheering me back!! Not a very successful 2:05 finish time, but judging from some forum posts I’ve seen since, lots of people didn’t do as well as expected. This was the third time I’ve run Windsor, so I knew it would be absolute chaos trying to get out of the park quickly, so we enjoyed a picnic while all those eager to get home struggled with the single exit. There were 4385 finishers. |
