Worcester City half marathon

At the weekend, my husband, eldest, brother-in-law and I all ran Worcester City half marathon. It was the first time running this particular race for all of us.

(There is another Worcester half marathon which takes place in the spring and which goes out into the countryside. For ease, I will sometimes just refer to it as Worcester half marathon for the rest of the post.)

It was just two weeks after Cheltenham half marathon, when everything had gone wrong for me. It was too hot, I felt sick, I had no energy, I had to walk, my heart rate was through the roof, I couldn’t hear my music, I hated the taste of my Lucozade, I was wearing worn out trainers, I didn’t remember running a lot of the course…

This time, the weather forecast was for 16 to 18 degrees and cloudy. I felt confident that it was going to be much better for me, but I was slightly nervous. I hadn’t just replaced my worn out trainers. I’d replaced them with some very expensive, super fast Nike Vapor Fly shoes – an early 50th birthday present.

Unusually, the half marathon started at 9.35am – after both the kids’ run and the 10k. Normally when there are several races at an event the half marathon is the first. The information beforehand suggested parking might be a bit challenging, so we set off from home at 7.30am. We pulled into a small car park on the outskirts of Worcester just after 8.

It was then a mile walk to the start on Croft Road in the city centre. There was a single block of six or eight portaloos and already a queue. We joined the queue, then went to the bag drop. The bag drop was inside The Hive library. It wasn’t remotely secure! There was no number on your bag and nobody who seemed to be looking after them. Luckily I had nothing valuable inside. We then joined the toilet queue again, which by this point was snaking to the end of the car park, looping round and going all the way back to the entrance. When we headed to the start line, there was a block of 12 portaloos with no queue!

There was A LOT of people running the 10k and a lot running the half marathon too. The start pens were 1:30-1:50 and 1:50-2:10. I was aiming for about 1:50, my son was aiming for no faster than that and my husband and brother-in-law were aiming for 1:45, so they went in the start pen in front of us. Usually when I run a half marathon, I run about 7:30 or 7:45 minute miles for the first couple of miles, then settle down. But after Cheltenham I’m decided I was going to have a more steady start.

We’d agreed my son would either run with me or at least not run in front of me. He collapsed at Cheltenham in 2021 and ended up spending a night in hospital, so we’re always slightly nervous about history repeating itself.

The race started right on time and my son and I crossed the start line within 30 seconds of the start. It was a bit narrow, so we were forced to go slower for the first half a mile or so.

Worcester City half marathon really is a city half marathon. It never leaves the city. It is a series of small loops taking in different parts of the city. I’ve been to Worcester a few times before, but I don’t really know it. It’s actually a really beautiful city and we got to see the whole thing while we were running. Worcester is a riverside city – it sits on either side of the River Severn – which means it is far from flat. The first mile was pretty flat, but then there was an uphill to the University of Worcester St John’s campus.

The route circled the campus, then went back the way it came towards the city. There are many points on the run where runners are passing others going in the opposite direction.

My son was keeping pace with me at this point, but he was already sounding quite out of breath. At about 3 miles, I started to pull away from him. I left him behind and hoped he would be OK.

At 4.5 miles, the course enters Worcester racecourse. This was so different to Cheltenham racecourse! It was a very simple loop, whereas the loop at Cheltenham is more winding. At Worcester racecourse, you run on a tarmac path all the way. It follows the river on the outward leg, so you can forget you’re running on a racecourse and just think you’re doing a nice riverside run.

Between 6.5 and 9 miles, the course does a winding route around the very centre of the city, including a path which runs all the way round The Hive. This was a really enjoyable part of the course. It was also the one place where I spotted my daughter and Hetty, who had come along for the ride. After she’d enjoyed Cheltenham so much, my daughter was very tempted to run Worcester too, but decided to just spectate.

The course then runs along the side of the river and weaves through a marina and basin area, which felt exactly like Gloucester 10k. The course crosses the river just before 12 miles and you run along a country path close by the river, which was very pleasant.

This was the one place where I sadly saw a collapsed runner. I’m pleased to say paramedics were already with him. My son also saw a runner of his own age collapse just in front of him at around 11 miles. Interestingly, every single collapsed runner I have ever seen has been male.

Just before 13 miles, the course crosses the river one final time (with one final short uphill) and back into the city centre for a final push to the finish line. The race numbers had runners’ names printed on, so the crowds were all shouting my name, which was great.

I finished in 1:50:40 – 10 minutes faster than Cheltenham and just over a minute slower than Weston. I was 58th lady and 18th in my age category. My husband got a PB of 1:44:18, which he was very happy with. My brother-in-law got 1:47:32 and my son got 2:02:20. This was a little way off his PB, but he ran comfortably and we were just pleased he’d completed it with no medical dramas.

I loved Worcester half marathon. I felt about 100 times better than I did at Cheltenham. I heard my music and really enjoyed it, my Lucozade didn’t make me feel sick and I remembered every bit of the course very clearly.

The Vapor Flys felt slightly uncomfortable for the first mile, but then they felt fine. Did they make me faster? Probably. I ran effortlessly all the way round and didn’t struggle at all. I will try to push them (and myself) a bit harder at Stroud half marathon next month.

There were five water stops on the course, which is so much better than the four at Cheltenham. Water was in a sort of squeezable plastic pouch. There was also gels and electrolyte drinks available at every water stop, which would make a huge difference to anyone struggling with their energy levels.

Apart from the shortage of toilets and the not-at-all-secure bag drop, Worcester City half marathon got everything right.