Bath Half Marathon 2006 by Simon Halliday

Many people who contributed to CRY on the basis that I would actually finish should know that I did in a time of 2 hours and 16 minutes.  A big sprint effort - sort of - in the last 200 yards, allowed me to catch an 80 year old runner on the line, but that was the only bright spot of an otherwise very painful last 3 miles.  Everyone told me that I only had to do 10 miles and the rest would be easy - adrenalin and all that sort of thing.  How wrong could they be!  Talk about hitting the wall, or lots of them.  It felt like someone was standing on my feet to stop my legs moving ...... being overtaken by a banana after 11 miles did nothing for my self-esteem but at least I beat the fairy (metaphorically speaking)!

A good number of the CRY team beat two hours, and Jon Callard managed 1 hour 39 minutes - did anyone beat that?  I haven't had a chance to see all the times.  If not, then well done Jon - what a great effort.  You clearly looked after yourself far too well for Newport, Bath and England to stay so fit! 

I pay tribute to Jonathan Webb and Michael Lynagh who were very doubtful runners and came through with flying colours around the 2 and a half hour mark.  Thank you to Jonathan and Richard Hill, who kept my wife company all the way round.  I am still not clear on how long they stopped for a tea and biscuit break at Richard's place......yet they were only minutes behind me at the close .....?!   But in truth I take my hat off to Suzanne who not only kept her training a secret, but then ran a race to be proud of, and played tennis two days later when most of us could hardly walk downstairs.  I hope you all saw her featured in the couple of SKY Sports features on the day which hit the screen last week - Paula Radcliffe eat your heart out!

Jason Leonard's pre-run predictions in the Telegraph interview with John Inverdale - that he would sort us all out in the last 200 yards - came to nought due to a chest infection.  He very nearly didn't run, so to get 6 miles under his (sizeable) belt was a great achievement, as well as arriving in Bath at 3.00am due to Twickenham commitments.  Thanks, Jason.

Paul Ackford and Dave Egerton ate up the course with their long striding technique, making it impossible to keep up with them, and our two flyers Tony Swift and David Trick cruised around the 13 miles making a mockery of the prediction that sprinters can't do the long distances.

The Iron-Man Mike Teague from Gloucester way, steamed past me most unfairly with only two miles to go, claiming that he had to catch Richard Hill, despite my insistence that he was well behind me (in fact running with Webby and my wife......or enjoying a cuppa at his place).  He wouldn't have been cheered like that by a Bath crowd before!!

To our media man on the scene, John Inverdale, together with wife Jackie, thank you for giving the event so much publicity in the lead up.  You must qualify as the fittest TV and radio commentator on the circuit!!

Some of the guys failed to make it to the start - Will Carling, Rob Andrew and Ben Clarke all trained hard and were gutted to miss out through injury.  But to lend their names to the day was the key thing so thank you, it meant a lot.  Similarly to Peter Winterbottom, who had a personal commitment he couldn't miss, and so came and supported us at the dinner the previous Wednesday, as did Ben and Rory Underwood.

I may say that Will was the first person to offer his support to the charity run idea, and has been a great support throughout - especially in the early days when calf muscles, etc were exploding and 13 miles seemed a pipedream.  We were fully intending to test each others relative pace once and for all in the final yards of the run...... so it was especially sad that his leg went in the last days of training - thanks Will, as ever, for all your support.

It was great to see some of the other Bath stars like Jon Hall, Gareth Chilcott, Nigel Redman, Audley Lumsden, Stuart Barnes, Martin Haag and Mike Beese come and share some drinking time with everyone, thus making it a special reunion.  And not to forget the great Bath Coach, Jack Rowell, for whom it must have been nostalgic to see so many of his Bath players all together after so long.

We had two main targets at the outset, to raise awareness of CRY and its objectives, and also to raise money for their various projects (I don't know the total yet, but it is well north of £100,000).  With 75 runners and countless supporters, I think we have had a good deal of success and everyone should feel proud of what was achieved last Sunday.  To all of you who have donated to the charity, many many thanks and I hope you feel it was and is worthwhile.  Our joint challenge now is to keep the momentum going, and I am sure that we will be able to do that.

And finally, as for me, I don't quite know.  To complete the run was everything, and for that Alan Watson my physio takes so much credit.  Over the 12 months leading up to this run he has set my complete agenda, physical and mental, as well as providing encouragement and motivation throughout - although I have to tell him that I ignored his very spartan pre-run breakfast menu (sorry Alan, I went for double bacon and eggs!).  Alan, in all seriousness, thank you for all you have done.