I travelled to Christchurch the day before the half marathon walk, arriving around 11.30am. I registered in the afternoon at the Town Hall which was the start and end of the race. The forecast was not promising with snow a possibility.It rained heavily overnight with sleet and hail. I arrived at the Town Hall at 8.15am to get myself acclimatised. The walkers had to start a half block behind the runners. We all had a chip attached to our shoe laces and this recorded when you reached the official start line and at the end. Just as we were about to start a short hail storm arrived. There were 5300 competitors. It took just over three minutes to reach the start line.
I was happy with my start averaging 7 and 1/2 minute kilometres for the first 5 kilometres. I averaged 8 min kilometres between the 5 and 15 kilometre marks. At the 10 kilometre mark I had to use the portaloo.
My small left toe started to hurt with a blister and this slowed me down a bit. I finished in 2:52:45 a personal best by just under a minute. I was the 40th person home and the 13th male to reach the finish line.
The race was very well organised. I liked the 1 km markings which helped me to calculate my times.
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