Half marathon history: Times change

I recently ran Weston Super Half. It was my 25th half marathon – my first was way back in 1995 – and I got my best time for a few years. I was also very pleased to come sixth in my age category (45-49), especially as I won’t be in that age category for much longer!

In terms of my times, my best running years were probably 2018 and 2019. As I’m not getting any younger, I’d started to accept that my times would get gradually slower. People do get PBs in their 40s and even 50s, but they are usually people who are new to running or have just started taking running more seriously, so they are still making good progress.

But my last couple of half marathons have shown that maybe I can still make some progress. I thought it would be interesting to see how my times have gone up and down over the years…

(In case you’re confused about my age for some of these – my birthday is in September and Cheltenham half marathon is in September. Sometimes it is before my birthday and sometimes it’s after!)

EDIT: I updated this post in November 2023 with the results of my autumn half marathons and a surprising PB at the age of 50.

EDIT: I updated it again in October 2024. I’d been disappointed with some of my times this year, but then got another PB at the age of 51.

EDIT: I updated in again in November 2025 with the details of my seven half marathons this year, including two PBs at the age of 51.

• 1995 – Nottingham half marathon (age 21) – 2 hours
• 1996 – Nottingham half marathon (age 22) – 1 hour 57
• 2011 – Bath half marathon (age 37) – 1:59:54
• 2011 – Bristol half marathon (age 37) – 2:06:46 (I don’t know what went wrong there!)
• 2012 – Bristol half marathon (age 38) – 2:00:12
• 2013 – Forest of Dean half marathon (age 39) – 1:59:34
• 2013 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 39) – 1:55:13 (PB)
• 2014 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 40) – 1:51:55 (PB)
• 2016 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 43) – 1:55:24
• 2017 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 44) – 1:52:08
• 2017 – Stroud half marathon (age 44) – 1:49:53 (PB)
• 2018 – Tewkesbury half marathon (age 44) – 1:49:33 (PB)
• 2018 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 45) – 1:48:10 (PB)
• 2018 – Stroud half marathon (age 45) – 1:50:06
• 2019 – Warwick half marathon (age 45) (deliberately slow as a marathon training run) – 2:10:21
• 2019 – Tewkesbury half marathon (age 45) – (running slower as recovering from Newport marathon a week earlier) – 1:56:52
• 2019 – Cheltenham Challenge half marathon (age 45) (cross country) – 2:16:34
• 2019 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 46) – 1:50:53
• 2019 – Stroud half marathon (age 46) – 1:49:24
• 2021 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 47) – 1:50:27
• 2022 – Tewkesbury half marathon (age 48) – 1:56:19
• 2022 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 48) – 1:53:25
• 2022 – Stroud half marathon (age 49) – 1:51:08
• 2023 – Forest of Dean half marathon (age 49) – 1:52:55
• 2023 – Weston Super Half (age 49) – 1:49:49
• 2023 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 49) – 2:00:38
• 2023 – Worcester City half marathon (age 49) – 1:50:40
• 2023 – Stroud half marathon (age 50) – 1:47:41 (PB)
• 2024 – Weston Super half (age 50) (I’d just had Covid!) – 1:54:35
• 2024 – Dymock half marathon (age 50) – 1:51:30
• 2024 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 50) – 1:46:42 (PB)
• 2024 – Worcester half marathon (age 50) – 1:49:54
• 2024 – Cardiff half marathon (age 51) – 1:53:05
• 2024 – Stroud half marathon (age 51) – 1:43:28 (PB)
• 2025 – Cleevewold (hilly trail half marathon) (age 51) – 2:08:12
• 2025 – Great Birmingham run half marathon (age 51) – 1:41:55 (PB)
• 2025 – Dymock half marathon (age 51) – 1:44:55
• 2025 – Cheltenham half marathon (age 51) – 1:41:11 (PB)
• 2025 – Bourton half marathon (Bourton Hilly Half) (age 52) – 1:48:57 (LV50 half marathon county champion)
• 2025 – Weston Super Half (age 52) – 1:46:41
• 2025 – Stroud half marathon (age 52) – 1:45:31