Not long after I arrived in Bristol I found myself bleary eyed one Sunday morning watching the Bristol Half Marathon on TV, live. It was 2001 I believe, and the race had some kind of world status for that year which meant it attracted enough attention from national BBC to put it on the box.

I was also looking out for one of my new colleagues who had volunteered to run in the event and chronicle her training travails for a regular feature in the paper.

Being still fairly new to the city I was really impressed that this was going and I felt like I had arrived in a really exciting city.

Down the years the Bristol Half has grown massively and I have run it a number of times, to a greater or lesser degree of success. But even if I’m not running it I love the atmosphere and great sense of occasion that it creates.

There are some great stories this year as ever, particulary my friend Emily Koch who suffered terrible injuries in 2008 after being hit by a car.

She has fought her way back to fitness and completed her first half marathon in two hours five minutes today, which is a great time and an inspiring achievement.

You can read all about it on her blog.

It makes me feel slightly ashamed that I have not bothered to put in the hours of training this year, despite having a place in the event. I just haven’t found the drive to get off my backside this summer, but hope to remedy that very soon as I’d love to do one more Bristol Half and get a personal best.

In the meantime I hope Emily and everybody else enjoys their achievements today.

simonp Uncategorized