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Thursday 6th October 2022

Sunday October the 2nd saw two Phoenix athletes, Tom Hooper and Steve Seth, competing in the excellent Cardiff Half marathon. It is a fast and well-supported course that is extremely well organised and is worth a look for anyone looking to lay down a marker over the 13.1 mile distance. This is Tom's perspective on the day, but first let's focus on Mr Seth.

Steve ran a very good PB, finishing in a time of 01:29:41 and 38th in his M50 category. He shared his thoughts after the race:

"I decided to set myself a target of sub 1 hour 30 mins - had not really trained for a half properly before so was a little nervous about how it would go. Very please when it paid off (big Kudos to all coaches - Liz etc who I will thank separately)."

On Cardiff as a race, Steve shared the following:

"I liked it. The feel of it (is a) proper big city atmosphere. I guess it's pretty quick though that little hill at mile 12/13 was unexpected!"

For Tom, this was a target race for quite a while after the first 6 months of the year (and all race plans) were disrupted by illness. A Sub 75 minute marathon had been a target for a while and that was the goal on the day. His reflections are as follows:

Cardiff is a race I've done twice before and as a former student at the University (a long time ago, mind you) it's a place I like running in. I'd identified this race with Geoff Hill a long time ago as something to target and a sensible, but decent quality 10 week training block was drawn up.

I had an ok race in the Littlehampton 10k during the build-up but it was slower than my PB albeit on a windy day. However after only missing one long run and one recovery run due to a sickness (plus 'extras') bug out of the 60 runs/sessions that were planned I didn't have any excuses for not performing.

My plan was very simple - get in a group, most likely around the leading British women (Natasha Cockram, Naomi Mitchell, Olivia Tsim), and even if that means running slightly faster than goal pace so be it. It's better to do that than get isolated.

Thankfully there was a great pack and even though it naturally got broken up as the race progressed, the benefits were huge. Definitely, some advice I'd give to anyone regardless of your pace is try and keep company around you and switch off if you can.

I went through the 10km mark in what was essentially equalling my PB over that distance, but I felt good and the lack of wind meant conditions were perfect for running. Now it was a case of holding things together between 7 and 10 miles, wait for my energy gel to kick in and keep running with the people around me.

10-12 miles is a very well-supported loop of Roath lake and then you have a little ramp before beginning the mile kick for home. I was well-aware that my stretch goal of 73 mins was very much on but ultimately despite a fast finish I was just outside.

As I crossed the line in an official time of 74:13 I had the classic response of immense satisfaction I'd achieved the target I wanted, coupled with an immediate regret I'd not got 73. Runners are mental.

Still, it was a 2 and a half minute HM personal best and a huge confidence-booster for what could be possible next, especially moving into the V40 category in January.

Huge thanks to Geoff Hill and the Phoenix Monday group for the guidance and inspiration and a very patient wife allowing me to fit training in around life looking after a (nearly) 2 year old.

(Photos were either from the Public Flickr album or purchased from Marathon photos and used with permission.)