A few months ago myself and a few of the Kinisi clan thought it would be a great idea to enter the Four Villages Half Marathon – something to kick start the New Year with!

Spring forward to Sunday morning at 7:30am – two cars, 8 people set off from Stone, on the whole, filled with dread about running 13.1 miles in the cold and wet.

After the last few weeks I think most of us had had a bout of one virus or another and along with the extravagances of Christmas we were feeling pretty undercooked and were unsure on what performances we were going to put in.

We arrived at the high school and then had to take a short trip on a courtesy bus to the sports centre, race HQ, all very organised with lots of helpful marshalls making sure we knew where everything was. However, we decided to head inside and keep warm, rather than meander round in the rain.

About 20 minutes before the start we started dropping off bags and doing a gentle warm up, occasionally bumping into other runners from Stone which was a nice surprise, however at the same time losing each other in the melee.

So just a couple of minutes before the 10:30am start the rain paused and we all gathered up in a huddle ready to head out on 13.1miles of fun!

Now from a personal point I was planning on a steady run, treating it as a Sunday tempo in preparation for the rest of 2023 so I placed myself just in front of the 1:45 pacer. Now I realise that pace is still quite decent but it’s my job to be fit and healthy now so hopefully I could manage it quite comfortably (ish). Looking back, although I did run the Flying Fox 10 in November, it was 2017 since I last did half marathon distance in a race when my PB was set at about 1:35 and a few seconds.

The Race itself

The start leaves from the sports centre and heads down a wide main road (the A56 I think) so there isn’t a lot of pushing and shoving and you soon manage to find some space to settle into a rhythm, which I did and tried to concentrate on my form and just relax into the race. It was probably after a mile or so I spotted Tim Hulse (SMM chairman) in front and decided to use him as a pacer, so very gradually over the course of the next 3 or 4 miles I closed the gap whilst remaining comfortable, although there was someone who was running just behind me who sounded like they were on the last breath….this went on the whole race – so credit to them they worked hard for the whole distance but ever so annoying!!

Around about halfway, Michelle Fox ran alongside me and we had a chat and fired some comments at Tim who was about 10 metres in front, it was at this point I closed the gap on Tim who, in his well known motivational style told me to ‘push on’ – maybe not the exact words!!

Now, the race is described as undulating and that is a fair description, it felt that you were always just climbing or flat – no monster hills and no speedy declines in the first half, running around country lanes with high hedges, turning left or right occasionally which meant i had no real sense of where we were or where we were going. The only reason I knew how far we had gone were the distance markers and my watch beeping, however other than the first mile I hadn’t looked at my watch and had run completely on feel.

My time wasn’t important – how much better is it to train well, run lots and when race day comes you just run.

At about mile 10, there was a timing clock which was showing 1:12 and several seconds (I tried to ignore it) but there was a group of runners who had obviously done the race numerous times and discussing the last 3 miles, which consisted of a hill climb, a quick decline before levelling out for a flat fast last section. I did a quick calculation in my head and thought okay then a steady last Park Run distance and I will be about 1:36/1:37 which would be better than expected and not too shabby.

However, the group kept on talking nonsense so I pushed on past them and up the hill – this was probably the steepest hill on the course but still easier than some of the ones around Moddershall, Beech etc., and if you go up, you must come down.

About mile 11 was the first time I thought my legs were feeling it a bit and perhaps 13.1 miles on limited race training was taking its toll, (however, not the first time I had thought ‘Why am I doing this’ – that happened about every ½ mile from mile 1).

I pushed on as I had had enough and wanted to just get it over with and as you come to mile 13 you re-enter civilisation and a bit of support before the last 400 metres when there are lots of supporters willing you over the line. It was a strong finish but not an all out sprint finish, I love seeing two mates sprinting to the end after 2 ½ hours and falling over the line – just shows your body can still do it even if the mind is telling you to stop.

Crossed the line, grabbed my bottle of water and ‘eco friendly’ medal and walked over to Mark Williamson who had done an amazing 1:28 and had a quick chat. Michelle Fox soon followed me and her look when she saw the medal was hilarious, then in came Tim not too far behind.

We had a quick chat then said our goodbyes and I headed back onto the course to cheer the rest of our teammates on and try to take some pictures (some attached, some posted on Stone Master Marathoners Facebook page).

After race routine…not

Now any sensible person would have fetched a jacket or changed tops after the race but the finish and start weren’t the same place so I wouldn’t have had time to do this. Instead I stood holding my phone and a bottle of water in the cold wind trying to take photos – not a good idea.

When most of them had run past I headed back to meet them near the finish line and had to borrow Jamie’s jacket to try and warm up (thank you Jamie x). We waited for the last couple and then made our way back to the sports centre to get changed and try and warm up.

As it turned out there were 17 or 18 of us from Stone that had made the long trip but at not one point did we all see each other to get a group photo, not very organised of us but it was great seeing familiar faces and a big reason why we do these races. Its not just the feeling or running hard and achieving something amazing but doing it with friends – running is seen as a solo sport, its just you against the clock (or your brain!) but when you share a wet, cold, undulating, muddy 13.1 mile course with others it’s definitely a great time well spent.

So in summary, Four Villages Half Marathon in January is a shock to the system, well organised, tough, challenging course and definitely something worth doing to kick your year off. So a big thank you to Helsby Running Club for their excellent race.

Highlight of the day was probably the chips and beer in the Swan with Two Necks on the way home, oh and my time of 1:33:31 a sneaky PB.

Thanks for reading and if you ever want to get involved in one of our days out get in touch, we are always planning races together, be it Park Run, 10k’s or even longer.

Have a great day

Paul