Reading Half Marathon - 2 March 2008

This was my first half marathon and I really enjoyed it. There were a little over 11000 runners which meant that the pack never really thinned out much, but the support along the route was fantastic and the weather perfect. I bought a bag of jelly babies and put 13 in my pocket before the race - one for every mile completed. I don't know if they really helped or if it was a placebo effect, but looking forward to a jelly baby after every mile did seem to make the race go quicker.

I had trained up to about 8 miles so I was definitely feeling my legs after 10 miles or so. By 11 miles I was starting to cramp a little but I kept going and finished in 1:57:11 - under 2 hours which was my goal. The finish in the Madejski Stadium was fantastic.

All in all a fantastic day and I'll definitely look to do this event again. I also enjoyed the distance - more half marathons for me I think!

• Race summary at MotionBased
• Google map of my run