On Monday I completed the first of my half marathons in my 2012 challenge! The race was the Central Lancashire New Year's half marathon (http://www.fyldecoastrunning.com/central-lancs.html) on 2 January 2012. It isn't one of the biggest half marathons around but it had a great local atmosphere with the 364 runners and all the friends and family that came to watch! It was very well organised and was a lovely course through the country roads north of Preston.
I ran the race in 1hour 26mins 9secs (1:26:09) and came 32nd in the field which, given that I haven't trained properly since September due to injuries and some rest time, I was extremely happy with! The weather was interesting too as we had to fight all 4 seasons during the race! It started with temperatures near 0 degrees and through miles 2-5 there was a stiff head wind which in turn was pretty cold! Then for a mile or so there was a mixture of hail and rain, followed by the remaining 7 miles with the sun out :) so given conditions, I am extremely happy with my time! It gives me a solid platform to start training fully again to try and get my time down throughout 2012.
Thanks to Ruth who came to support me when I finished!
My next half marathon is the Brighton half marathon on Sunday 19 February 2012. If you are around the area that weekend and fancy coming to support me, I would very much appreciate your support and would be happy to see you!
You can donate via my page at www.justgiving.com/James-Gardner-2012, anything you can give would be great cheers! So far I have £115 and have set myself a target of £1,000 so please help me reach this!
Cheers :) James x
