A Royal Half Marathon

In the third episode of "30 Years of Running Marathons," Jason participates in his second half marathon after missing out on running the London Marathon. Having only started running a year ago, he has gained confidence and is eager to enter as many races as possible before starting university. His final race before college takes place around the grounds of Royal Windsor, with the Queen's residence as a stunning backdrop. Jason emerges as the King of half marathons, having completed the race, with the Queen's residence as his backdrop.

Thanks for listening. Keep on running.

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Race is on. So let's get straight into the third episode of 30 years of running marathons. Now, at the end of the last episode, we left it with me having run only my second marathon in my first year of running marathons. This was the Abdon Marathon in September. And I'd taken a huge one and a half hours of my time, which was done the London Marathon back in April. So now I was really enthusiastic about doing another race, and I was hoping I could get into London Marathon again and run it in April. But unfortunately, it wasn't to be, I mean, London Marathon as it is now, was so popular, even back then. There were no other races near me logistically that I could really get to. I mean, there weren't a number of races back then that there are now. So I didn't have anything really to aim for in April, but I carried on running, I carried on running because I just loved running. So I was still doing five, 10 miles nearly every day. And then at weekends, I'd sometimes do a, a 20 mile run. So I still kept the training up because I , I just loved running. But I tried to find the next available race, and that would be in the summer. And if you listen to my previous podcast, you know, I've had trouble running when it's been really hot, but hopefully I was learning as I went along. And so I tried to find a race that was close to me during the summer months. 'cause I was hoping to go into university in September. So I was hoping to get, obviously any races done before I , I started at uni. So there was this race in Burnham, which is about 10 minutes from I'm , um, it's called the Burnham Beaches Half Marathon, which suited me fine. You know, I , I didn't necessarily want to do a full marathon in the heat of the summer, and this sounded ideal. Now, Berlin Beach is absolutely beautiful place. I mean, it's ancient woodland. I mean, it is really a place outstanding natural beauty, and a lot of films have been made there. For example, Robinhood Prince of Fi was filmed there , uh, the first night Goldfinger. Um, where else has been filmed there? Harry Potter and ordered a Phoenix, Harry Potter there . Definitely Hallows part one . So a lot of films have been filmed there because it is so beautiful. So it would really be a really enjoyable race. It would obviously be off road . Um , now it was a two lapper, so I'm I similar to the Abdon Marathon. So I did the Abdon marathon, and that was, that was two laps. So this is gonna be basically two laps of six and a half miles. Um, and there was a choice of a 10 k or a half marathon. And I always go for the further assistance . I'm a glutton for punishment. Ideally, if it had been a marathon, I would've done that because, to be honest with you, I, I always struggled with the shorter distances. And if you're gonna run and get a medal and get the kudos for it, then I want it to be for the furthest distance. So that's what I chose. So I chose the half marathon. Um, when I started to run it, I wasn't so sure I sort of regretted my decision, especially when you see people turning off after the first lap because they basically finish and you've gotta do another lap. Anyway , we'll come to that in a minute. But basically, yeah, the, the actual , um, location I say was Burnham Beaches. And it started in a private school, which was just on the edge , uh, of Burnham Beaches and this school, absolutely luxurious facility . So there was a swimming pool there, there was tennis courts, cricket ground , um, and they were no well known for their sport and achievements. Um, so yeah, basically it was only like four to 500 runners. Uh , from what I remember, I took the , uh, the , the train there that was about 10, 15 minute train ride. And then I just took a short taxi ride there and lovely little , uh, race village they had on, on the playing fields there. So they had a little admin tent , uh, and nutrition beverages, everything you could want there. There were changing rooms. I mean, it really was, you know, really set out nicely, really well organized. And yeah, I mean, it was , uh, with the British weather, you never know what it's gonna be like. And it did turn out quite hot. But luckily, I mean, we're, we're running through these woodlands and it, it's, it's, it's, it , it's roads are running through the woodlands, so it's not trail and, but it's all, most of it is shaded. So you , you've , you've got the shade, so you've obviously still got the hot humidity of the air, but it's, there's no sort of sun beating down on you, which, you know, was some relief , uh, because this we're talking in the middle of August and, you know, the heat, the summer. Um , so that helped slightly. Um, so yeah, we started, the actual race started on the playing fields , so it was a bit like running cross country at school. This is what it reminded me of. And, you know, I, I never had a problem with cross country , but I know a lot of kids didn't particularly like it for me. You know , I've, I've always loved it. Um, and, and , and luckily, you know, it wasn't, wasn't a wet day. So the , the playing field wasn't, you know, soggy or muddy. It was, you know, it was , it was firm underneath. Um, and I remember the starter calling us over and I was like, well, you know, I couldn't sit , there was no like, official, you know, massive start line because obviously there was only , uh, a few of us, they just had this, you know, well , I literally couldn't see any starters . So I just, I just followed the others and we, we all sort of stood where we were, thought we were supposed to stand until I started . I said, no, no, come this way, this way, move up. Um, so I I , I sort of stood sort of, I guess I was near , near the front. And, and so it proved to be , um, when they sounded the hooter , uh, I started off and I was, I was out front. I was out front and I was like, well, where's everybody else? Am I running the right direction? And yeah, they , they were coming up behind me. I remember there was this slope , um, on , on the playing field, sort of like on the playing field. There was like , um, as you came out the playing field, it's like a little, little , um, um, hilly bit , like a little slope that went up. And I thought, I'm actually leading the race. I'm leading the Burnham half marathon . And I thought, this is gonna last long <laugh> . And , and they had this little lead car, and I remember we were coming up to the slope. I ran up the slope, and this lead car literally couldn't get up the slope. So he goes to go up the slope, and as he tries to get up the slope, it starts rolling back down. There's me running up the slope, and I'm like, yes, I'm beating everybody, including lead car at the moment. And I'm running down the other side. And then all of a sudden it's like a stampede of runners literally just came whooshing past me. And from having the most wonderful feeling of leading the race, I just felt like a, a , a balloon with the air being sucked out of me. It was the most deflating. I mean, talk about deflating your ego is the most deflating thin feeling I felt just to have all these runners just go past me, and it was like I was running in quicksand . I just literally couldn't move, or that's what it felt like anyway. It felt like I wasn't moving at all. It felt like I was going backwards. And I thought like, oh , you idiot, what have you done? I mean, I, before we just, he hadn't even got out , basically out the field, and I was already struggling. So by the time we got into the roads, I was like, and we still had the hills to come. And the thing about it , a hilly course like this, when it's up and down all the time, you just can't get into a rhythm. I mean, yeah, obviously, you know, what goes up must come down, but you can never keep a consistent pace. It's so much hard work and it really takes you out of you than if you are like on a, a just on a , a level <laugh> , I was gonna say playing field. But yeah, just literally a , a level playing field. Not quite level playing field we had at the start. But yeah, just literally like a, if it's level, you know, it's, you don't want too many ups and downs. But this course was up and down all the time. And like I did in Abdon , I was just trying to stick with, you know, just a , a couple of other runners, you know, get into a group of runners just to sort of pace me. Um, and I was looking at my watch literally every mile, which probably wasn't a good idea 'cause it was just taking me outta my rhythm. And I knew this was gonna be two laps, but I tried to cut it down. So I was trying to think, well, you know , the first laps gonna be six and a half miles. And I knew the time I was looking for, I was thinking, well, 50, which was on the quick side , maybe to an hour, I was looking at the hour being worst case scenario. So you're probably looking at like two hours for a half marathon . Um , that's what I was looking at. Um, and then I , I split each lap into three. So for the first lap I was looking at, you know, longer term I was looking at six and a half miles shorter term. I was looking at half of that , um, the three and a half miles. So it gave me a sort of an idea of what I was aiming for. So I was thinking, don't think of it as, as half marathon as 13 miles. Just think of it as six miles, because that's what a lot of runners were doing. They were, you know, running their 10 k . And as we come round to , to that first lap , um, all, all I could see was like a , a marshal , the standing in the middle of the road and they looked, literally looked at your race number and the color of your race number would dictate whether you were doing the half marathon or the 10 K. And it was literally like, you've been selected, you haven't, because if you had the right color, yep , you've been shoveled off. I could hear the cheers of the crowd. You are almost done. You are almost finished. You had the glory already. And there's this impatient this out, get my teeth in. There's this, you know, impatient, impatient, how we're all impatient to get things done quickly. And if I could have got my reward there, and then I was thinking, yes, please, I'd just, i'd i'd , I'd had enough. Um, I mean, my time was all right. It was under the hour. Uh , I think it was something crazy like 53, 54. Yeah, it was a , it was , it was a good time. So I was pleased, but it had taken me out . It , and when you see other runners who are almost finished, you can hear the cheers of the crowd. You can hear the announcer saying, so and so's finished, so and so's finished. You're thinking, oh , and , and of course by now a lot of the runners have chosen easier option . So they've chosen the 10 k, they're off. So now literally I was running on my own. The marsh would shoved me, you know, theoretically to the right with his arm. He was saying, no , you are off there. The person in front of me was being shoveled over to his left. And there was me knowing I had the same route. So I knew what was coming. I knew all the undulations and I knew it was tough. And I also knew there was this big hill on the, at the 11th mile still to do. And that's all I could think of. And I'm thinking, I've got all this to do again. And it was at that moment I was thinking, wow, I wish I'd done the 10 KI really had. But of course, once I started going round on the second lap, I thought, yeah, again, just break it down. We're on to six miles. I was think you getting to double figures to 10 miles, that's what you are aiming for. So I was ticking the miles off and because I already knew the route , now every uphill that I went past, I saw that as an achievement. I'm like, that's it. I've never got to run you again. That's it. Finished. And of course, by now it was getting really, really hot. Um, I was taking on liquids whenever I could at the drink stations, and I was literally thinking of what I had done rather than what still had to be done. So as I say, every hill that I would go and buy , I was thinking , this is the last time I'm gonna see you . And that was fine. I got to the 10 mile mark. I was ticking off the times that I wanted. And then I thought, well , I've just got three miles to do. Which in today's terms is , you know, it's , it's literally a park run. And of course I've done many three mile runs and I've been doing a lot longer runs. You know, my stamina should be good because I've been doing 20 mile runs in preparation for a mountain. And that's what I was thinking. I was thinking, you know, think of it as a marathon. We're still, when I finished , it's still gonna be halfway through, had that long-term mindset. And that's what I was thinking of. And then when I got to the 11th hill, this was when it really hit me. I mean, this, this hill just went up and up and up and it was a , it was a , a long stretch, but I reminded myself, once I got to the top, you got two miles to go and think soon it's all gonna be over. And you're gonna regret it being over because you this time goes so quickly. You know, you, you , you , you struggle at the time. You , you , your , your mindset's in the moment of this, of this, this pain and struggle. But then when it's over, it could be a bit of an anticlimax. And you know, there's this saying , you've , you've , you've paid for this, you've paid to suffer. So, and there's always this joke, you know , the people who take the longest to run a mouth or a half mouth and certainly get their money's worth 'cause they're out in the course a lot longer. And I always admire runners who, for example, you know, I might finish in under two hours for the half marathon . There might be people taking three hours. Same , same with the marathon. You know, I might do it in four hours, but there might be people do seven hours. And I think that's a , a , a far more admiral effort to have done that, because that is summer . To , to be out on there for that amount of time is , you know, it it takes some doing. Um, so yeah, I mean, back to the race, I mean, yeah, the , the , the , the 11th mile, to me that was like the last mile. And I was hoping the last two miles, well, I knew they weren't , 'cause obviously they'd already run it, but we're gonna be slightly downhill. And as I've said before in my previous podcast, the last mile is always the longest. And, and so it proved to be, and the real killer in this event was actually you came off the road and I had to run the hole of the playing fields where we started. I had to run the hole of it again. And you can see as you come in the crowds, the other side, you know, the friends and relatives and that, and you can hear the announcer and I can see runners in front of me up on the corner. And now my competitive streak kicks in. 'cause I'm thinking, how many can I catch up? Can I catch up those runners in front of me? But of course now my legs are dying. I mean, I've literally got no , there's nothing in my legs. Um, and I'm struggling on the grass and the , the heat because it's, you know, we've come out the shaded trees, the sun is just shining down the , on the playing field set . And it's like , it's like a frying pan and it just seems to go on forever. And of course it's only a few hundred yards. I mean, you know, it's not , it's not even a mile, it's just a few hundred yards around , around the field. But those few hundred yards, they , they literally seem like a mile and you get more and more anxious as you finish line. And of course the finish line is no big gantry like you get in the London route and no huge crowds, you know , it's just runners , you know, family and friends and just a little banner across. Um, but yeah, I come around the corner and I managed to do a sprint. I'm thinking, just give one more last push. I crossed the line and I, I couldn't see what time it was or anything. I was just, just delighted to have finished. Um, and you know, you get , you get the usual metal hang around your neck and that, and I just literally collapsed on the grass as soon as I could with a bottle of water they'd given me. Um, and just , uh, I was just, just relieved to have finished . And at the same time, I was glad that I did the half math and instead the 10 k because I'm thinking it was worth the extra effort. You know, I felt , I feel that I, I'd , I'd achieved something. Uh, and when I saw the time, I mean, it was just unbelievable. It was , I think it was one hour, 45 minutes and, you know, I'd have been happy with two hours. So to do one hour, 45 minutes on a hilly course like that, you know, IIII couldn't have been more proud of myself. And you've got a , a lovely , um, which I've still got today, a lovely finishes , t-shirt , uh, which I changed into a bright yellow one and all. You could see all around the playing fields in this school , all the finishes, all with these bright yellow t-shirts on. I mean, it was a , a wonderful site . And you feel a real part of community, real part of camaraderie because you know, nobody, when you've run a marathon or half marathon ever asks you what your time is. I mean, to be honest, the , the the time is something that's runners , uh, really we're , we are just, you know, know, competing within ourselves for , um, 'cause there's always gonna be someone faster than you. There's always gonna be someone slower than you. And , and really when you've done one marathon , one half marathon, your main objective when you do another one, it's to finish it. But the back of your mind, yes, you'd always like to do a faster time. Um, but when you speak to, to family, friends or , or even strangers, if you told 'em you run a marathon, a half marathon, they , they don't, they don't care what the time is. Um, it's , it's relevant really , but it's always, it's always nice , um, when you do a fast time. And certainly, you know, my first few races , um, well , I think this was in my, my second half marathon, I think it was. Um, I'd only done a handful of races so far. It was only my second year running. And at the moment I was getting PBS all the time. You know, that was just, every race I was doing was a personal best. And because this is what was happening, I assumed that this would go on forever. You know, there'd be no end to pbs. I would just carry on beating my times, you know, it was just, it would never stop. But because if that was the case then, you know, I'd, I'd probably be soon getting up to pro level . Uh , but because you know, you are , you are improvement , never run in straight line like that. It's never linear. And you know , I was just, I was young. Um, I probably didn't take the training as seriously as I could. And maybe if I had, I I would've been going even faster. But, you know, I was , I was enjoying it. And you know , the , the , the thing about, you know, running a marathon, half marathon, it's not just the race itself, it's all the, the , the training beforehand and , you know, it , it teaches you a lot of self-discipline. It gives you goals to aim for. Um, and then at the end of it, it's not just getting the medal, it's, it's the , the whole race day experience , uh, the meeting of other runners. Um, you are all in this together. Um, the experience of having run that far, the feeling that you've achieved something so many emotions to , to , to run in a marathon or a half marathon or any race and something that it's, it's , it's hard to explain, but they , they talk about a runner's high. And I mean, you can get a runner's high from when you're doing a normal training run, but certainly in , in a race. Um, it's, it's, it's, it's something, it's something really hard to describe. And I felt so alive when I was amongst all the other finishes with our yellow t-shirts on. You know, we were a , a , a band of brothers. We had, we had done it, whether it was the 10 K or the half mouth , and we had finished. And I actually went and stood by the finish line. 'cause I wanted to make , you know, for me, this was the day I wanted to make the most of it. And I was tuned on the runners that were coming through, you know, and some people call 'em strikers , but you know, I only have admiration for the people who were coming through after me. And as I say, people coming through, you know, at three hours and longer, and they're out there in the heat all shapes and sizes, and I only have admiration for them. And, you know, I cheered every one of them across the line. And that , that's, that's what it , that's what it's all about. You know, as runners, we're all out for each other. Yes, it can be, you know, we can be a bit competitive , um, especially when we see someone next to the line. We wanna beat them across the line and at the end of the day, you know, we're all here for each other , um, to get across the line and to say we finished. So that was my, I think my, as I say , my second , um, half marathon and yeah, I mean it's , um, it was a tough but an enjoyable one. And what made this half marathon even better was the fact that when you had finished, they had the swimming pool there, you could go and use swimming pool. So once I fi finished hearing everybody on , um, I actually went and got changed and I went in the swimming pool. I mean, it wasn't a massive swimming pool, it was an outdoor swimming pool. But on such a hot day, it was lovely to cool down. And even in the swimming pool, I got a bit competitive. Once I started swimming a few lengths, I thought, let's see how many lengths I can swim. And , uh, this is after a half marathon, so I was still full of energy, but it was a nice way to relax and certainly to cool down and out of all the races I've run over the years, I have to say that is the best finishing line , uh, to come across and then relax in a swimming pool afterwards. Um, you know, you don't get that normally in races. And this was just a , a small race, yet you, you know, you had this free use of a swimming pool , uh, which certainly helped me recover the next day. Um, my legs felt a lot better having , you know, cooled down in the swimming pool afterwards. Uh, and then I caught the train home and, you know, went back home to my grandparents who were, were thrilled to see the medal. And yeah, it was a , it was a really, really good day. Um, so then after that, obviously I was looking forward to my next race and I got a place at university for, well see the end of September. So I was thinking, is there a race I can do before then? Ideally now I'd like to run a marathon. Um, I was in such good shape, I was thinking I really need to run a marathon. But as I said, in previous podcasts, most of the marathons tend to be in the spring, autumn. I wanted to get one done before I started at uni. Um, 'cause I, right about when I started at uni, would I have the time , uh, would I keep the training up , um, with the spear , a long-term thing for me. So I wanted one that was fairly local to me. And there was one indeed that was fairly local to me and one where I used to to go to school. So I, I went to school both in Eaton and Windsor. And there was this marathon, well , it's a half marathon, the , the Windsor Half Marathon. And yet again, this was another race that was run off road . And in fact it was run and it's still run today and it's run , um, along the Long Walk , um, in winter Great Park and parts of it are actually not normally open to the public. Um, and you go across , uh, Windsor polar lawns. Um , you've got the views of Windsor Castle as you come down to the finish line. I mean, it's a really beautiful historic course. Um, and it is literally Royal Windsor half mouth . And I mean, it's in the , uh, the town of rural Windsor. So, you know, you can't get a much more glamorous half marathon than this one. And it was so close to me, it would probably take me about 20 minutes to cycle to , and that's what I did. I , I cycled to it. And even though it was September, I remember being quite a hot day. And this was also billed as a very undulating course. And yet again, this was two laps. Uh, the first lap was slightly shorter than the second lap. So you do , you do the first lap and then you go out across the polar lawns . And I think that the second laps about seven miles. And there was a small little , uh, race village at the start there. And slightly more runners at this one actually. I mean, this was, it was approximately 4,000 runners. So not , not as big as London, but bigger than the last few races I've done, which are only a few hundred. And you had to estimate your time. Um , which I'll put similar to what I run the Burnham half in 1 45. And then you start in the pen based on the color of your number, which is based on the , uh, the estimated time that you put down. Um , so I start a little bit behind the start line. Now, the thing about this particular race was a very unusual, in fact the, and it was run on it's basic basically roads, off roads, but you know, proper tar marked roads. So it wasn't, wasn't trail running, but the first , uh, mile was literally up here where it started to maybe slightly downhill , but you, as you came up to the first mile , uh, he came up to um , uh, there's a , a big statue called the Copper Horse, which is quite a , um, a toury thing to see. And it's right up on this hill. And that's just as you come up to the end of the first mile. Um, but to suppose when the , the , uh, the starter sounded the race off, I mean, we were literally walking up to the big gantry, the start gantry, and then they had these , these these timing maps . So as soon as we hit the , the , the timing match, you start your watch and that's it. You got the chip in your number and off you go. But this, this narrow road, I mean, I , I couldn't get up to a very fast pace 'cause there were runners all around me. It was a bit bit like London Marathon again . And, but that , that was a good thing to be honest, because you do , you know, you never wanna go too fast in the first mile. Um, though this, it would've helped maybe to go a little bit faster because as soon as we almost got to the end, you just came up to this big hill, up to the first end of the first mile, you can see the , the , the , uh, uh, the statue , uh, the copper statue and to your left and right view, or you can see a wild deer. So there's a wild deer that row about in the park and that , I mean, they keep themselves, themselves , uh, but that's, that's all you could see. And then you turn the corner , uh, and he's still going up slightly. There's a smashing of, of, of , uh, spectators. And you go around the corner , um, and then you, you're going round to , to your second mile and then it , it goes round to the loop. You go round to the third mile. Third mile. I think that was where the drink stations was. So on the first drink station, I was being very superstitious. I always take on water straight away, nor normally pour it over my head. People look at me and like, well, why are you pouring an overhead ? You're just getting yourself soaked, weighing yourself down with a wet T-shirt and that. But I don't care because to be honest, it was a , it was a hot day and it's always best to call yourself down before you get hydrated and that , and that's what I did. So, you know, it's, it's worked for me before. And um , yeah, that's what I did. And then you , we just literally ran round in a loop, I think after about the fourth mile the hills started to go off a bit, so it wasn't quite as hilly. And then you come round and as you come round to the, the sixth , just before halfway , I mean literally there weren't any, the crowds around most of the course, 'cause it's out in the country. So , but as you come round back to the six mile, you're coming back to the top of the hill, which is the top of the first mile. So you look to your left and when you come around the next time you'd be running back down that hill. But yeah , as you came to the six mile , a lot of crowds were there and we had been just running in quiet countryside on our own. And suddenly you hear the roars of the , of the spectators as you're coming through, people cheering you on. You've got your , your name on your, on your number, and they're shouting your name. And it's quite , it's quite, how , how can I put it? It , it , it's quite surreal because you've been so quiet for most of the races, you and the runners, and then you get all this, all this cheering and that, and it's, in some ways it's , it's quite, quite off-putting because you've been so sheltered from it. And then you get all this, this cheering you on as you come through and you want to run faster because you've got these people watching and yet you're struggling because you're now halfway through and you're looking to your left. And you can see Windsor Castle down in the distance. You can see the slope leaning it down into distance, but they've got marshals coordinating off because you can't go down there yet. You've still gotta do this whole lap again. And in fact, it's more than the whole lap. You've got another seven miles to add to the six to make it up to the 13. And so before where you turned right to carry around the loop, now you're going straight on and you're going out to um, Windsor polo lawns where they obviously play , um, polo. Yeah , polo matches there. And it's so open. So the sun was really coming down on us. And it's also like a wind tunnel because it's like, it , it's open and the wind comes across at you and the sun's bit . And it's just literally from where before we've been up and down and go around a loop . It's literally just one straight road, which is quite nice in some ways 'cause you can get into a consistent pace. And I was just trying to , to cruise along at a nice steady pace. But the thing about it was, so all you could see in the distance was this road and the runners in front of you. And it was, it was a , a real struggle just to, to not be anxious about trying to get off this main road. And um, you know, and onto somewhere that, that turned around a bit, you know, some people would find a bit monotonous. Um , I was just trying to take in all the scenery , uh, the polar lawns, take it all in , uh, and just try to keep, you know, run with a few others just to try and keep it at a consistent pace , um, and not think too much, not to get too anxious. Once you start getting anxious, that's when you start to struggle. So, but I managed to get into an , into a nice rhythm of that. And then you come out of there and you start turning round the game . And then I think it's about, similar to Bernon Beach's half , I think it's about the 11th mile , uh, I think there was a , there was a hill that wasn't like on the first loop and it's a really, really steep hill. And you know, you , you can, you , you are literally almost walking up it , I mean, I'm not, I'm not the tallest of guy , so I haven't got the longest legs . So, you know, for me I'm really struggling. But like in all my races I've never wanted to stop. Partly because I know if I want stop, I'll never get tired again. But, but also, you know, for me, you know, it's, it , it's a running race and I don't want to have to walk. I mean, some, some people do what's known as Jeffy now. So I do a bit of walking, a bit of running, but I'm one of these people I've just gotta keep running partly. 'cause I say if I want to stop, that's it. My whole rhythm goes by my own set goes. So I literally, in matter how slow I was, I , but you know, you could see there was straggling in front of you stopping. And , and, and I'll be honest with you, it gave me, you know, a real boost to pass to people that were, that were stopping , uh, and walking. Uh , and then a lot of people passed me running up the hill because I'm, I'm a mit I'm not very good at running uphill. I've always struggled. Uh , I try my best, you know, some people can master running up hills . Um, and also I need to do more hill training in my training because I, I really do struggle with the hills . Um, but I just try to keep going. And that's all I was doing. I was just, you know, I just didn't want to stop. But, you know , it takes it out of you and all timing to go out the window. Um , once I got to the top of the hill, it was just, just the relief and the last few miles, I think it was, yeah, coming down towards the 12th mile, you start coming downhill and then once you get to the 12th mile, you know you're gonna be turning down to the last mile. And my , my , my timings were good. Um, I was on track and as I've always said, the last mile is the longest and the toughest. And this was the first time I'd done the Windsor half. I mean, I've run it many times since and I know how to run it because this was my first time that I was running it. I got to the top of the hill and you can hear the crowds and I could see the finish line. I could see winter castle way off in the distance. And when you're looking down the hill, you actually think you're gonna finish in front of Winter Castle. Of course you don't because it's all , um, it's all a mirage because you're, because you're so high up Winter Castle looks a lot nearer than what it is. And in fact, the finishing line looks a lot nearer than what it is. And because you can hear the crowd, you think you are almost there. And 'cause this was my first race , I didn't realize that it was still a mile to go. I thought, you know, this is just a , it's a , so like most runners, I started sprinting. I thought it's downhill. I'll just start sprinting. I thought I can sprint all the way down. Now near the top of the hill, there's not many crowds. The further you go down, the more crowds there are. And the thing about this race, which I've now learned is you'll know when you're getting near the finish line because the crowds will be bigger. But I started sprinting from the very top, like a lot of my fellow runners next to me. Um, but you know, it's, it's like as soon as you start sprinting, the finishing line just seems to move further away from you. I say it's like a mirage. You can't, you, you think you're never gonna get there. And even when you come down off the hill and you're on the flat and the crowds, you've got crowds either side of you and they , you know, they're , they , they , they're quite, they're quite thick in depth and they're standing either side and that and they're cheering you on your name on and there's more runners around you and it's getting more claustrophobic 'cause you're running because you're getting near the finishing line and they're shouting for you to come on, come on, get a move on Jason, come on, come on. And you're trying to go as fast as you can, but then you're realizing, oh no, I think I've started a bit too quick here. I think I've made my dash for the finishing line a bit too soon. And then you start to slow down and you don't wanna slow down because the crowds are cheering you on and you can see that the finish line. So you don't want to slow down, but it's just not getting any nearer. Um, and in all my races, in all the races that I've done, this is, I talk about last mile being the longest. This is by far the longest. And I dunno how many times I've run over years. I've run it so many times. And I always try to remember in my mind that it's gonna be such a long mile, think of it as maybe two miles, but it still does my head in . It's still that finishing line never comes. And you're looking at the clock on the finishing line. You see that as you get nearer and nearer and then you try to put a sprint in and, and I always do eventually, but you can never sprint straight from the top. It is a mile from the top. And yeah, it's , um, it's one of these races. You've got experience to believe. But um, I mean I now pass my knowledge on to other runners when I'm running it. 'cause I'm run it so many times. I always tell 'em , I say, when you get to the top, you think the finishing line is there. It's a long way to go. Don't think of it as a mile, half a mile. Think of it as maybe another two miles. Just try to keep the pace you had . Yes, let the slope take your legs, but don't try and power down the slope just so it take you down and try and recover before you get near to the finishing line. Um, and yeah, I mean , um, my, my time was good from what I remember, I think it was maybe slightly slowed in the burn. I think it was about one hour 48 because she didn't know Healy course like that. Yeah , again, it was under two hours. I was happy with that. I walked around the side there. They had , um, army cadets handing out the medals. You got a medal drink and they had all this , uh, all these grass fields at the side of the road there so you could just, you know, families and that were , were sunning themselves on the grass there . And that , uh, they had food vans, you know, you could get beverages, anything you wanted. It was a nice chill atmosphere. And I literally just collapsed on the ground and just sat and watched other runners coming in. Um, yeah, it was, it was , it was great. And then I went to the bag drop . So I went and picked up my, my bag and changed something warmer, got a hamburger and , uh, yeah, I , I stayed there for quite a while actually. 'cause it was, you know, it was like summer, even though were the end of September. It was such a hot day and, you know, to run one hour 48 with those hills. And in that heat I was more than happy and I so home. I think I stopped off on the pub on the way back and, and had a pint. There was a lot of runners in the local pubs in Windsor. And um, yeah, it was , uh, it was a great second half marathon. I think it was my second half marathon or third half . No , I think, no, this was my third half marathon now. And I was starting to get used to running in the heat, you know, I was learning as I went along. Um, and I certainly learned from the Burnham half when I started off too quickly. And I guess the hill at the start helped me, you know, not to run too quickly and to pace myself. So that hill at the, the beginning had its advantages and , uh, yes, it's, it's, and over the years it's become one of my favorite races, to be honest. Um, and it's a very emotional and sentimental , uh, race for me, which I'll explain in later podcasts. Uh , but yeah, I mean that was a , that was a , a good, good final race before I went to university. And so yes, after that race I almost immediately , um, went to university. So I went to university down in Wales and I was hoping to continue running. Um, I mean we're now, now in September. I hadn't thought about an autumn marathon. I was, to be honest, I was too engrossed in my new lifestyle in studying and I hadn't sort of planned about how I'd run another marathon. You know, I'd achieved all I wanted to achieve when I first started off. I just wanted to run a marathon to see if I could do it. But obviously I'd got faster and faster and I was really getting into it and thinking I could, you know, do quite well at running marathons. And, you know, I was , I was pleased with how many I'd run so far for my first two years of running. But now I was doing something I never thought I would do . I was going back to universities as a mature student and no one else in my family had gone to university and I was never particularly academically bright. So, you know, I really wanted to, to to , to work hard. And I knew I'd have to work hard to keep up with the others. So how am I running would fit into all this. Um, I wasn't sure, I was still hoping to continue the running , but I know there was also possibilities of distractions at university. Despite the ups and downs. I managed to graduate from university with a first class honors in running. And this, I'll tell you more about in the next episode of 30 years of running marathons.