Flat, fast course, they said, ideal for beginners and people looking for a PB. It's close to home, I thought "If not now when?" (I'm 56) and I'd had a few glasses of wine, so I signed up.
A four hour time seemed like a challenge but not unimaginable, so I started following the free 4 hour training plan from Marathon Handbook. I stuck to it as closely as I could, repeating a couple of weeks in the middle as I had time in hand. It felt like hard work and very time consuming. It included 800m intervals and strength training which were new to me, and unwelcome.
There was some stress on the eve of the event as, in spite of the taper, my legs were stiff and achey, and I discovered that no public transport option would work for a 9am start. In the event, my wife drove me in and traffic wasn't a problem. I spent almost an hour marching around Newport to try to keep warm, before navigating the chaos to find the poorly marked starting pen.
The marathon and half marathon runners all set off together along some quite narrow pathways, so it was impossible to stick to my planned steady pace. I resorted to speeding up whenever there was space to overtake, then back to shuffling in the crowd. The route went out into the countryside, twice round a loop of country roads and back into town. After a few kilometres the field spread out a bit and I was able to run the way I'd planned for more of the time. As we headed out onto the rural Gwent levels the support thinned out but the sun emerged and banished the chill.
In the second half I finally caught up with the four hour pacer (way ahead of me because it took so long for everyone in the pen to cross the start line). He was followed by a mass of runners like a scene from Life of Brian. Marshalls were trying to get people to keep left for the elite runners to lap us, but on the narrow lanes there was no-where for them to go. I took the opportunity to follow one of the faster runners and overtake the 4-hour mob. It was a good decision as there was much more elbow room in front of them.
After km 30 my legs were tiring and it got harder to maintain the target pace, but no cramps, no chafing and no 'wall'. For the last km I was able to put on a spurt and finish in style. I'd taken care with hydration, electrolytes (Decathlon fizzy tablets before and during) and fuel (jelly babies), so maybe that helped.
After the race I was walking like Long John Silver but over the afternoon it's improved rather than deteriorated. I'm not, however, expecting to be able to jump out of bed very nimbly tomorrow morning!
Final score 3:49:37. Under the four hour target so I don't feel obliged to do it again!
2024 Half Marathon (my first) 
Half Marathon Advice Needed
Southend Half Marathon
Do I really need a HM or marathon training plan? 
Marathon Suggestions?