When I booked to do this half marathon it was before I'd got a place to do the London Marathon. Despite this, after getting that place I decided that I would still do this race as it'd be a bit of fun, and my legs should have recovered enough after two weeks. What I hadn't anticipated though was that I'd barely run between the two races due to catching a cough from the start pen of the London Marathon. I'd not really felt like racing today either, but decided as I'd paid to do it, I probably should at least try. I was testing negative for COVID-19 which was something, and I'd had the cough for long enough to no longer be contagious. Now I'm only really coughing when I exert myself, and sure enough, during my warm-up I had to stop after 0.25 miles as I was coughing too much, and then finished the warm-up after I'd stopped.

Just before 10:15 I joined the start pen, and found only me and one other were loitering around the 07:00/mi section, which felt like maybe there was a chance I could do well today. The other runner asked me what time I was aiming for, "Nothing faster than 1hr30".

"Same," he replied.

After that I felt like I should try and see what I could manage - a 90 minute half marathon shouldn't really be a problem for me these days, even on this terrain. It'd all be down to how my breathing was, and whether I found myself coughing for any of it. Once we started I was in the lead to start with, forgetting myself, and going off at my usual half marathon pace of around 06:20/mi. I corrected this eventually and dropped back to a slightly slower pace, and let the other runner overtake. For a while I did dare to dream, "what if I can keep this up? I wonder what his sprint finishes are like." Whilst I've had a few second and third places finishes, I've not had a first place since that very first Sport Relief run. It would have been so nice. After two miles of this though, my breathing wasn't great, and I decided to walk up one of the shorter hills before getting going again. I looked behind me, and the person in third place was quite some distance back. I knew I'd need to walk more yet, but I wanted to try and stay far enough ahead of him to ensure a second place finish. That's not something I ever thought I'd think, but I thought it'd be nice to get a podium finish again. True, I was never going to manage first now, and I'd have been happy with third, but I wanted to try and stay where I was.

I next walked around the 5K mark, once again going up a hill. It was like I was treating this as an ultra marathon. I guess that's appropriate as after being ill, my breathing was about the same as after an ultra. The course though is really scenic, with trees turning from green to oranges in places, and views across fields when you're not amongst the trees. In some places it was pretty muddy, but for most of it these bits were easy enough to avoid. Eventually the half marathon route leaves the rest for a while, and I walked again, I could still see the other runner in front of me, but had lost sight of the one behind. After the other runner rounded the next corner that was about the last I saw of him. Shortly after this was a water station I ran past, having stopped at the previous one momentarily for a sip of water. This was now back on the route with other distances, and it felt like this section was a little faster. I did in fact manage to regain a little time, and finished the 6th mile in 6:40. Not too bad!

Once the church was in view I knew it wasn't far to go, and for the half the course goes around past it, and through the trees. Eventually it gets back to the race village, and I stopped again there for some water before carrying on. I glanced behind, no sign of any more half marathon runners, so I kept the pace steady. For this lap I walked a lot more frequently, and I noticed the wind a lot more. However, I even with the walking I managed to not be overtaken by other runners doing any of the distances that were out there today, and for a while I was completely alone. That was very unusual for this course! This didn't last long of course, and eventually got back to seeing more runners, and glancing over my should still. I ran when I could, and walked when I couldn't.

At around mile 12 there was still no sign of the other half marathon runner that had been behind me previously, so I figured I'd now got a reasonable gap between us. When I saw two people standing over someone sitting on the grass I went over to them to see if they were okay and if there was anything I could do to help. The one on the floor had fallen over, but was okay, and seemed to be in good spirits. When I was convinced everything was okay there I carried on going and once again turned right towards the church. From here I could see for quite some distance behind me, and strangely still couldn't see any more half marathon runners. For the bit through the trees I ran most of it as I weaved through oncoming canicross runners, and then rejoined the runners doing other distances on the path.

Moments later a runner was catching up with me, but I didn't think they were coming from the church path like I had. I assumed they must have gone the other way, and doing one of the other distances. However, I was sure I recognised him as the runner I'd lost sight of some time ago, so I glanced at his bib, and couldn't see it at first, and then as they overtook me I saw it blowing behind him, pinned to his shorts. He'd covered the distance between the church and where I was now between glances over my shoulder - it was him, and he must have been moving fast. This kicked me into action and I got running again, and he reacted to this by speeding up too. I sped up some more, and again he reacted. We reached some Canicross runners and had to weave through them, and then this time as I pushed harder again the other runner couldn't respond. I'd got about 100 metres now to try and put enough distance between us to allow for any time difference in starting. I pushed as hard as I could, hitting 4:26/mi and then crossed the finish line. Was it second place though? I waited at the finish line, and shook the other runners hand, congratulating him on the tough battle for the finish.

After collecting my medal from the tables (I double checked with them to make sure I was picking up the right one as they weren't being handed out), my every thought was on finding out if I'd done enough. Instead of going over to the results tent as quickly as I could I stopped to have a cup of water and then calmly walked over. Okay, 1:35:24, not a great time, but it'll do. Overall position: 2, gender position: 2, U40 Category position: 1. I'd done it! I somehow managed to finish second despite the circumstances, but that may be because sadly there were only 58 people doing this race. I spent some time then clapping other runners in before treating myself to a bacon cob and a diet coke, and then it was the trophy presentation. I felt very pleased to have done it.