Half Marathon a Month Challenge #38 - Strathaven / Falkirk - February 2017

Strathaven 'Run With The Wind' Half Marathon - 19th February 2017

February 2017 meant a return to the Strathaven Half Marathon, one of the few to take place in the UK that month, never mind in Scotland. Alas this year Chris was not able to take part due to other commitments, so I was running on my ownsome, as evidenced by the solo selfie below.

I wasn't completely alone though as Clare joined me at the start line and was also there to greet me at the finish line. Thanks for all your support, babes 😉

Strathaven is one of those half marathons where the start line is some distance from the race HQ where you pick up your number, so before we could get going we had a 1km walk up to the start.

When we eventually did start I was footering about with the running app on my watch and crossed the start line in last place, quite a way behind everyone else. 

This actually worked out well for me psychologically because I was then able to see how many people (if any) I could catch up and pass before the end of the race. The final count of people I had managed to overtake was 32, which I was delighted with. Coupled with a time that was 9 minutes quicker than Preston in January, I considered this event to be a relative success, as you can see from my smiling face below.

It is quite a tough course as the majority of the distance is an uphill climb, however despite that it's an event that I've enjoyed the two years I have done it and I'm looking forward to the 2018 version.

Result:

Frank - 02:16:59


Falkirk Half Marathon - 22nd February 2017

As I mentioned above, Chris was unable to take part in the Strathaven event as he had other commitments. When either of us is faced with this situation then we usually try and find an alternative event to run in. However, as I said previously, February is a sparse month for half marathons, so it was necessary for Chris to construct a home cooked Half M to keep the monthly record going.

As you can see he managed to put together a good route around the environs of Falkirk, and he completed it in a time which was quite reasonable given the inherent delays in a non-official course.

Result:
Chris -  02:07:48