Birmingham Half Marathon 2008
Last Sunday (26th October 2008) I ran the Birmingham Half Marathon which started at Walsall road by the Alexander Stadium and finished at Centenary Square in the city centre.
Course description from the website:
The course is undulating. The first stage of the course is on the A34 which is a dual carriageway heading into Birmingham City Centre. This section includes a climb over one of the flyovers on this road. The route then enters the city centre where there are several changes in direction and height. Runners will also pass several city landmarks including Birmingham Cathedral and the Council House and Town Hall in Victoria Square. Runners then head down hill to the Mailbox, following which there is a short steep climb.
Runners will then leave the city centre and the course undulates through Edgbaston before a two and a half mile gradual descent to the finish line on Broad Street near Centenary Square
The course map shows how twisty it was and the course profile shows how hilly it was (unlike the Silverstone Half marathon I did last March which was pretty flat)! Lucky for me, I have done quite a bit of Adventure Racing this year which has mainly involved running long distances up and down very long, steep hills, so these hills didn’t trouble me that much!
Many people complained how hilly (mostly uphill) the course was (it made for a touch and slow Half Marathon), however despite this I actually put in a very good time of 1:39:30 and came 643rd out of 8,927 entrants! So I am very happy, especially as the last Half Marathon I did (Silverstone March 2008), I did it in 1:50:59 (although I got stuck behind other runners and felt that I could have done it 5-10 minutes faster) – and that was quite flat, so this is a huge improvement.
Here are some photos and finishing videos of me.
Unfortunately I didn’t get entry into the London Marathon (neither did 3 other people I know) as it is done by ballot. But looking forward, my friend and ex-collegue from Barclays Bank PLC, Nathan Adams; has mentioned a couple of running events that I might be interested in this November. I am also very tempted to do the Edinburgh Marathon (a full Marathon!) on 31st May 2009 – because I haven’t been to Scotland before so would like to see Edinburgh, plus it is supposed to be the fastest Marathon in the UK because the first 5 miles are mainly downhill, then the rest is fairly flat.