Race Report! New Year Revolutions – here comes 2022

So – yesterday afternoon around 4 o’clock I decided to run a half marathon! Today! As you do. I have run this event before. In fact this event started my year of half marathons in 2019, and then I just had to do it again in 2020. It didn’t happen in 2021, so why not again in 2022?!

Run at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit it’s a timed run which means you can run any distance you can manage within 6 hours. Some people do marathons, some people ultras. Some run, some walk, some run/walk. One person today was in a wheelchair. It’s out and back loops – seven for a half marathon.

Even though it’s the exact opposite type of run that I normally like (I.e. countryside trail runs) it’s curiously compelling. Meditative and mindless almost. The atmosphere is one of camaraderie, although there were a lot fewer people today than in previous years. There’s no sense of competition because everyone is running their own race in terms of time and distance. The cycle circuit is in a green space within a highly industrial and commercial area. Today there were two kites hovering for about half an hour overhead, and lots of other birds singing away. Ever changing skies remind me of the skies in Suffolk, which is really quite extraordinary when we are in deepest Hayes just a couple of miles from Heathrow!

So that’s the first half marathon of 2022. Done and dusted in 2 hours and 11 minutes! When’s the next one?!