Vitality Oxford Half Marathon

I completed the Oxford Half Marathon last week. It was good fun: there is plenty of beautiful architecture around the route, the weather was pleasant, not too cold, not too warm, and the mood wasn't too bad. To be honest the Hungarian races I participated in last year had much more of a party-vibe, but I'm used by now to Oxford being a bit stiff, whether it is a race, a conference, or a drinks evening.

The route started from Broad Street, in fron of the Sheldonian, and it went up a bit towards Banbury Rd, turned back to Pitt Rivers, did a loop by New College and back to Banbury, up North almost until the roundabout, then back to Marston Ferry Rd, all the way to Old Marston where we did a nice loop along the historical buildings and back to Marston Ferry. After that it was just running all the way back, and the last few miles stretched through University Parks and came back around the Radcliffe Camera, passed by Exeter College and through to Turl Street, and the finish was on Broad Street again.

The organization was alright. There were plenty of drink stations and toilets, lots of friendly volunteers, and the spectators and bands raised the mood. The only issue was - as usual in Oxford - space: the organizers issued small plastic bags with the application and one could only leave as much stuff in the baggage drop area as what fitted into the plastic bag. For anyone travelling from another town, city, this must have been quite inconvenient. Also, there were no showers for after the race. One had to go home to get changed. And since there was a good turnout and 8000 people ran, the narrow streets and the paths of University Park constantly became 'clogged' and one had to adjust the speed to others running in front. Apart from these small things it was a lovely day, and I'm glad I've completed the race. My time was a bit better than what I expected: 1hour 48minutes instead of 2hours. Still, much slower than my PB from last year, which was 1hour 35minutes in November, on a cold and windy day, in Siófok by the lake Balaton.

The page of the Half Marathon offers good running training advice and training plans for everyone wishing to compete at some point. I usually use the training plans of BUPA, but it seems that one could train perfectly well with these ones too. I also raised some money for Macmillan Cancer Support and received some nice compliments and thanks for doing so.