Swansea Half

Finally writing up my Swansea half marathon review.

The day was perfect for running. Not too hot (to start with!), no rain and a slight breeze. I had stayed at my parents' house so they drove me near to the start line and I gathered in the runners' village. Lots of people milling around waiting for the off. The village was well organised and I saw that a nearby Sports Direct had opened up early, a bit of opportunistic trading never hurt anyone!

Runners' village

With about 10 minutes to go I headed to the start line and found my pen (1:45). I visit Swansea once or twice a year to see my parents but don't often go into town. I was surprised and slightly depressed by the decline in the town centre. Too many boarded up shops and a general run down feeling pervades everywhere. I guess the recession from a few years ago bit hard. Hopefully it will turn around. I guess locals go to Cardiff to shop and visitors bypass the centre and head straight for Mumbles or the Gower.

Waiting for the start

The gun went off on time and I ran over the start line. My ideal pace was going to be around 5 minutes per kilometre but my optimism took over and I thought I could go faster. About 15 seconds per kilometre faster but enough to hurt me later on. Also, the clouds broke and the sun came out. It got quite warm quite quickly. Nevertheless I continued to pound away at my optimistic pace and headed onto the Oystermouth road for the next five miles towards the halfway turnaround point in Mumbles.

Support was good, the weather had brought the crowds out. I even managed to see a friend of mine who I hadn't actually seen for about 15 years!

Finally we hit the halfway point and headed back towards Swansea along the cycle path that skirts the seafront. By now the sun was definitely out, I felt hot and my pace was hurting. I had to slow down a bit. Still managed to keep my average under the 5 minute per km that I was aiming for but my thoughts of this being a nice easy fun run disappeared. I had to start digging deep.

I focussed on a fellow runner about 10 metres ahead of me running at my pace and decided that I was going to beat him. With about 11 miles we turned into the marina before heading back to the finish line (same as the start line). 12 miles went by and I ran up Wind Street, the new centre of drinking and eating. Quite nice as long as you avoid Friday and Saturday nights!

My "rival" was still 10 metres ahead so I upped the pace and started closing him down. With 400 metres left I drew level. Maybe if he knew I was racing him he'd have given a better fight but as it was I eased past and started sprinting towards the finish.

I ran across the line in 1:43:46. Well under my goal but it hurt a lot more than I had planned!


Would I recommend this race? Yes. It's well organised, well supported and flat as a pancake so perfect for a PB. If I wasn't still shattered from my marathon effort maybe I would have broken mine.

Since the race I've been ticking over until marathon training starts again in mid July. It's a lot warmer in the mornings at the moment but I suppose that's better than running in the cold! Lighter mornings also mean that parks and canals come into play.

I've planned a few pre marathon races, a couple of 10k races and the Ealing half marathon. I definitely will not be racing the half marathon for a PB since it is a week before Chester so I'll use it as a training session, it's a good marathon well liked by the running community. It always does well in the running surveys and awards. I'm looking forward to it.