Cheltenham half marathon 2023

Cheltenham half marathon 2023 was my ninth Cheltenham half marathon – and by far my hardest! My husband and sister also ran it, along with my daughter, who is 17 (the youngest you can do a half marathon) and ran it for the first time. She’d been training on and off since January, but had got injured a few weeks ago. She’d run the half marathon route (apart from the racecourse) on her own a few days previously and really hated it. I’d told her it would feel so much better with the adrenaline, the other runners and the crowds.

A week before the half marathon, the forecast was for 16 degrees and cloudy. Then the forecast changed. It was going to be bright sunshine and no wind – 18 degrees at 9am, rising to 21 degrees at 11am. We were a bit concerned about that! We all had our suncream and hats on and carried drinks and Bloks (energy sweets). We’d made sure to eat well and drink a lot beforehand.

My trainers were on their last legs, but I hadn’t realised until it was too late. I should have replaced them three or four weeks ago. My husband had some of the very expensive Nike Vaporflys, which make you run faster. I’d actually got some as an early (50th) birthday present, but they’d only arrived two days before the race and I hadn’t had chance to practise in them.

When we got to the racecourse, we saw one of my best friends, whose 19 year old son (a friend of my younger son) was running his first half marathon. Then we had our traditional two trips to the toilet!

The start line had changed this year. It’s usually in the front car park of Cheltenham racecourse, but this year was by the grandstand further into the racecourse. We said goodbye to my daughter, who was going in the 2:15 – 2:30 start pen (there wasn’t a separate one for anything slower than 2:30). My sister was aiming for her first sub-2 hour half marathon, so joined us in the 1:45-2:00 pen, along with her friend, who we know from parkrun.

We got into our pens before 8.45. The race was due to start at 9. And it didn’t. About 9.05 they announced that we would ‘shortly’ be having a warm-up – a four minute ‘pulse raiser’. We were going to spend two hours raising our pulses and we were getting very hot, with the sun beating down on us. The run actually started at 9.20.

The start was a bit crowded and narrow. As I ran out of the gate, alongside my husband (although we hadn’t intended to run together), I was pleased to see my younger son and his girlfriend with Hetty. Shortly afterwards, I saw one of my son’s favourite teachers and the same friend’s husband and other son. When I see people I know, I shout to them in case they don’t see me. People seeing me gives me a boost. Then someone shouted my name and I looked at them and wondered if I knew them, then remembered I’d got my name on my number. You could write your own name on your number and it was surprising how few people did, which meant I got lots of people shouting my name!

The start of the route had changed a bit. Rather than going all the way down New Barn Lane – a very nice hill – it only went part of the way down, then cut through a new estate to join up with Prestbury Road. After that, the route was basically the same as it has been for the last few years. Not that I really remember it…

For the first couple of miles, I was keeping pace with my husband. I was aware I was running too fast, but every time I tried to slow down, I didn’t manage it. I know the route goes into the town centre, past the Town Hall, up through Montpellier, past the hospital and Cheltenham College (the home of Gloucestershire County Cricket). It goes through Tivoli and Hatherley – where we always see my sister’s mother-in-law, and she was there again as usual.

It was only much later, that I realised I couldn’t remember any of this. All I could remember was the people I’d seen.

I started feeling rubbish from literally three or four miles. It wasn’t helped by worry about my daughter. I know she’s very sensible, but my son collapsed doing Cheltenham half marathon on a hot day two years ago, so that is always at the back of my mind.

I’d spent time assembling a really good playlist, based on my Weston Super Half playlist. It didn’t help me. It couldn’t lift me out of this feeling that something wasn’t right.

To my mind, there aren’t enough water stops, especially for a hot day. There was water at three miles, seven miles, 10 miles and 11 miles, with water in paper cups. At each stop, I properly drank water and then tipped some on myself.

I continued feeling rubbish. I really wanted to walk. I’ve got nothing against walking, but it’s not something I do. The only times I’ve walked in races were the very hilly Forest of Dean half marathon and Cheltenham Challenge, as well as Cheltenham half back in 2016, when I was struggling with an injury. I told myself I wouldn’t walk until after 6.5 miles – halfway.

I made it to eight miles. Then I walked for about a minute. After that, I was walking for a minute probably every three-quarters of a mile.

I got to the racecourse and was gutted not to see my parents. Apparently they saw me and were shouting me. I saw my brother-in-law and nephew. They started running. I thought that was nice of them to support me. But my brother-in-law was running to a collapsed runner. He has a remarkable talent for always coming across collapsed runners. Luckily he is first aid trained.

I told myself I would run the rest of the way after the 11 mile drink stop. But I couldn’t do it. I had to walk again at 12 miles. The heat on the racecourse was so intense. I passed two more collapsed runners, surrounded by their friends. There was one ambulance out there, already busy.

Originally I’d hoped to do Cheltenham half in 1 hour 50, which is about my usual time. With the heat, I thought I’d be happy with 1:55. As I approached the finish line, I thought I would scrape in under 2 hours. I didn’t. I finished in 2:00:38. And I felt terrible (not for my time, but just generally feeling bad from the heat). My sister was a long way off her sub-2 hours. But my husband finished in 1:50 and he felt good. He was surprised to see me suffering and made me drink two cups of water and two cups of electrolytes. This was the first time ever that I’d felt bad on a race and he’d felt good.

We were both worried about my daughter, so my husband went to look for her. Then he got cramp. He saw her just entering the racecourse and she said she felt fine. My son and his girlfriend had been keeping track of her and were sure she was happy and not suffering.

She finished in 2:34 and she was so happy. She couldn’t stop smiling. She’d smiled all the way round the course and loved people shouting her name. I didn’t realise, but she’d carried a little spray bottle of water in her belt, which she’d sprayed every mile, and more or less constantly on the racecourse, which had been a huge help to her. She said she didn’t even notice the heat! She was in much better shape than me and I was so grateful for that.

Just as we were leaving, an air ambulance landed on the racecourse. It really was brutal.

It was only later when my daughter started telling me about parts which she’d liked or not liked, that I realised I couldn’t remember anything. It was 2pm before I felt my injured middle toe on my left foot, which actually looked a bit of a mess. I started to think that I’d been in a worse state than I’d realised. If I hadn’t walked, I might have ended up collapsed on the racecourse…