#50 Yeayyy halfway there! Was tough today, don’t know why, I just can’t put my finger on it, I should be used to Shrewsbury roads and hills and I had an extra day rest and no parkrun yesterday! 

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed it 😃

Was nice to see so many familiar faces waving and cheering me on and running alongside many friends and fellow parkrunners. Many were running the distance for the first time, fair play to them starting on such a tough course.

Course was challenging for most of the way, but the crowd’s support was brilliant and helped a lot 😃

Left my house at 8am and jogged 1 mile to the start.

Saw lots of people I know, chatted about the course and finishing times, took photos and selfies and even one with Nuffy the bear and photos of giant gorillas 😃

We started on the Show Ground and after a hard tour of the town centre we had to tackle the long slow climb ( not a hill) of Ellesmere Rd where my family was waiting for me and as I ran past my son Luca passed me an electrolyte drink I prepared in the morning but didn’t want to carry from the start.

After that we turned left at Audi roundabout and carried on for another 3 miles.

The road was much quieter from then on, so I put my headphones on and listened to my running playlist. With 2 miles to go we joined Berwick Rd and turned back towards the Show Ground for a long and well deserved downhill finish.

It was nice to have my family waiting for me at the finish for a big hug 🙂

The new organisers did a great job after a few years of continuous blunders, I must say it was well marshalled, plenty of water stops, good technical shirt and goody bag.

However I heard a few runners commenting about the size of the medals but I think it’s a nice design, very fitting for our town race .
655 miles to go, next one should be on Wednesday and Shifnal Half on Sunday, if remember correctly that one is tougher than today, a climb from start to finish !

Time to say my thankyous : 
1. to all who encourage me and wish me good luck, like and share my social media posts
2. to all who sponsored me so far : £546 plus gift aid raised so far 
3. to Gareth from Purity Lifestyle Studio in Wellington for free massage on my calves
4. Joe Williams from UKRunChat for free entry at Shrewsbury Half Marathon 
5. Up& Running shop in Shrewsbury for big discount on new Running Shoes
6. Susan Bowes for selling her extra M.Drayton 10k and Derby Half entry and donating the money to Cancer Research uk
7. My Family for patience and support and for listening all day to my numbers and stats
8. My brother at La Lanterna restaurant for putting a poster up to raise a bit more 
9. To Joe Brocklehurst for looking after my legs for a discounted rate and also a complimentary treatment 
10 To Sandra ( my mother in law) for helping me raise from family and friends 

RRR (beep beep)

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