After missing out through injury last year I was determined to run the notts half this year, notts was my home for almost 10 years and I couldn’t wait to get back and run the city.  After running the 10k a couple of years back I was prepared for the hills at the start but I think the heat and the pace I started out a took it out of me.

What I wasn’t prepared for was some of the hills later on in the race, ouch!  Not huge as such but after the first half of the race it hurt!  

The course in general is beautiful, loved going through Wollaton park, there are a few main road bits but in general a very nice run. I was a bit concerned with mile markers, miles 5 and 6 were short by around 1/4 mile and then the following miles were a touch long.  Both me and the wife did over 13.2 miles.

I really wish you would go to bottles, the pouches whilst i see the eco benefit I really struggled to get into, as did a lot of people.  On a hot morning like it was there were a lot of people that struggled with exhaustion.  I wonder how much that was to do with the water situation.

One final point, I’m glad you brought back the finishers t-shirt which was nice to wear in the afternoon, personally I would prefer a tech t-shirt, thankfully they were only £10 on the day so treated myself to one at the end.  The race bags also felt a bit lacking and should have been pre-prepared with stuff in, the last thing I wanted to do was to go around adding things to the bag.

My final thought for the day were the crowd, notts people did themselves proud.  Very well supported and very friendly.  Kept me going through a very tough race day. Thanks!