Great Birmingham Run half marathon

My husband and I recently ran the AJ Bell Great Birmingham Run half marathon. My husband only signed us up a few weeks ago. To be honest, I wasn’t keen. My experiences at Cardiff half marathon last year had put me right off big events. Running in the club’s race series has given me a real appreciation of small races starting at cricket clubs and village halls. But our kids are both at University of Birmingham, so we spend a lot of time in Birmingham (although the university campus and Selly Oak rather than the city centre). And my husband’s cousin’s grown up kids were both running it with their partners. His daughter is my husband’s god-daughter and his son is also at the university. Also running it was my husband’s best friend, who was our best man.

For us, the race started at 8:30am. It only takes an hour to drive to Birmingham, but with uncertainty around parking and road closures and no trains running that early for us, we decided to get a hotel. I’ve never stayed in a hotel for a race before. Although I did stay in one when my husband ran Milton Keynes half marathon last year. Coincidentally on the exact same date and also with his god-daughter.

We stayed at the Travelodge at Moor Street. It was pretty basic, but I think we were only there for nine hours in total. We left the hotel at 7:15am to walk to the start. After a very hot few days, with temperatures reaching 27 degrees, the temperature had gone right down. It was 8 degrees and cloudy. The start was by Centenary Square, where the famous library is. The start and finish were in slightly different places, so bag drop was on buses on Broad Street, beyond the start line. We literally put our bags on a seat, as though they were passengers. Our numbers were checked against the label on our bags when we dropped them off and picked them up again. I’m pleased to say, there were loads of toilets and we only had to queue very briefly the last time we went.

The race included a 10k and both sets of runners started in the same waves and followed the same course for the first 8k.

When our numbers arrived in the post, we were surprised to say that we were in the orange (first) wave for the fastest runners. I would have predicted the second or even third wave (out of six). Just in front of us was an area for the elite runners. My husband’s god-daughter and her partner (running his first ever half marathon) were also in the orange wave. My husband’s friend was in the third wave, starting at 9am. There was then an hour gap before the final three waves – at 10am, 10:15 and 10:30. My husband’s cousin’s son and his girlfriend were in the 10am wave.

My husband and I appeared to be the oldest people in the starting pen, which I was very proud of! Most people appeared to be in their 20s. We started near the back of the pen, because that seemed to be our natural place. It was about 8:35am when we crossed the start line. There were funnels in the starting pen, which meant people started more gradually and it wasn’t so crowded.

I knew that the start of the race was downhill, but that the majority of the first 5k was a gradual uphill. In my head, I was going for a PB and wanted to run at 7:45 min/ mile pace. I knew I’d run 7:51 for my PB at Stroud last year. The four of us started together and, before I knew it, I was in front. I made the most of the hill and my music and kept going.

The start of the race weaves around the city centre a lot. I realised I was in the Jewellery Quarter, which I’ve heard of but never seen before, from the huge number of jewellery shops. Every time I thought we were leaving the city centre behind, I’d spot the Bullring again. At some point, we ran past the finish line and I saw that some of the elite 10k runners had already finished.

After about a mile, it started raining. That wasn’t forecast. The rain was FREEZING. Luckily, it only lasted for about a mile. My husband caught me up and we ran next to each other, then one of us would get ahead, then we would be next to each other again. We weren’t actively trying to run together, we just naturally run at that pace. At about three miles, there was a block of toilets. I knew my husband was thinking about stopping, but he didn’t. Round the corner, there was another block of toilets and he disappeared into them! He caught me up again at four miles.

Water was in plastic bottles (not as environmentally friendly, but a lot easier to drink out of) at approximately three miles, 6.5 miles and 10 miles. I didn’t bother with it at three miles as it wasn’t hot and I also had my own drink as usual. At four miles, I dropped one of my own drink bottles and it broke. It was leaking out of the top. I carried it for two miles, drank a bit more from it and threw it in the bin.

Nearly half the route was on a big out and back along Pershore Road, which just veered off in different directions at a couple of points. Both my daughter and my husband’s cousin had said they would see us at five miles. We saw the cousin and his wife at five miles, but didn’t see my daughter and Hetty until six miles. My son had said he would see us ‘at the top of the hill’. When I’d asked which hill, he’d said I would know which hill!

It was probably about 7.5 miles when we started climbing the hill. At the top of the hill, my husband’s god-daughter overtook us. And there, as promised, was my son. We ran around Selly Park, which is a very nice area and my son’s favourite place to walk. Then we were heading back along Pershore Road to the city.

The route goes around Cannon Hill Park, where we’ve done the parkrun a couple of times, and around the famous Edgbaston cricket ground. We were now at ‘only a parkrun to go’ and it looked like I was on for a PB. My husband and his god-daughter were just in front of me and appeared to be sticking together. My legs and breathing and everything felt good.

Suddenly, the route got more crowded and I realised we’d met with the 10k runners from a later wave as we headed towards the finish line. I passed the 12 mile marker, then 800 metres to go, then 400 metres to go… I’d initially made an optimistic 1 hour 46 minute playlist, but my husband said I should make it a bit longer, so I’d added a song to make it 1 hour 50. At the 400 metres sign, I cut Common People off in its prime, skipped One Way and went straight to my finish song – We Are the Champions.

When I crossed the line, my watch said 1:41:58. My husband and his god-daughter were surprised at how close to them I was. All Great Birmingham Run finishers got a goody bag containing a medal, a Tshirt (if they’d opted for one) and a couple of other things. This was very well organised – you just had to go to the sign for your race and Tshirt size eg Half marathon small.

My official time was 1:41:55 – a PB of nearly 1 minute 30. My husband had a new PB of 1:41:16, so we both rang the PB bell. Can we make it to sub-1:40? Maybe! It wasn’t until much later in the day I found out that I was third in my age category. To come third in my category at such a big event is a huge achievement.

The AJ Great Birmingham Run was enjoyable and very well organised. It has restored my faith in big races.