<\/p>\n
Anyway, after the initial, sometimes awkward \u2018You run?\u2019 question has been asked, complete with a quick scan of my ever present wobbly bits, the conversation often veers to events and mainly on my part, it veers strongly towards the direction of the Cardiff half marathon.<\/p>\n
The Cardiff half was my cherry popping of running, it was the event I had in sights that night I decided I was going to become a runner, it was the run I wanted to achieve more than anything and even after many, many other events it is still my all-time favourite! <\/p>\n
So, with a mere twelve weeks to go (perfect amount of training time) here\u2019s 10 reasons why you should definitely run the Diff this year. <\/p>\n
1.<\/strong>\tCardiff itself is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, I mean, naturally I\u2019m bias and there\u2019s no lush greenery or waterfalls on the route but there is the castle, Roath Park and there is the Bay which brings with it all its splendid glory! And, who wouldn\u2019t want to run in a capital city that has 14 Greggs shops and once had an actual terrapin invasion! (Google it) <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong>\tI mentioned Roath Park but what I didn\u2019t mention was the Cartref Care Home which is situated overlooking the lake. The residents of the Cartref Care Home provided the most emotional few minutes of my first Cardiff half experience. The gang line the garden complete with flasks, blankets and flags to shout out encouragement to all of the runners. It\u2019s beautiful. I can\u2019t even find something sarcastically funny to say about it because it\u2019s such a beautiful thing to witness. <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong>\tThis also brings me onto the support. The support at the Diff is not far off the support the London Marathon provides and having experienced these two major events it really is a close call to who shouts the loudest. There\u2019s hardly any of the route where there\u2019s no shouting or clapping or \u2018punch this for power\u2019 banners and each year it amazes me more and more just how many people take their time out of their Sunday morning to come and shout at strangers! Amazeballs! <\/p>\n 4.<\/strong>\tCardiff is one of the flattest cities in Britain and has more hours of sunlight than Milan! This is a fact apparently, though runners who participated in the IAAF World Championships in March may argue with this ever so bold statement given there were a few accounts of dolphins going for PB\u2019s across the barrage. <\/p>\n 5.<\/strong>\tAnd talking of the barrage, that\u2019s where the gels are given out! Now, love them or hate them, the gels play a pivotal part in speeding some people up but slowing most people down whilst running the Diff. Intrigued? FuelMax gels are lobbed (nicely) at people who want them and in return runners lob (also nicely) the empty packets on the floor which makes that part of the route, for want of a better word, sticky. There\u2019s something both strangely off putting and satisfying trying to rip your trainers off the tarmac after running nearly seven miles. <\/p>\n 6.<\/strong>\tThe Cardiff half marathon has grown into Britain\u2019s second largest half marathon with over 22,000 runners completing the 2015 race. Now, as someone who\u2019s desperately trying to break down the barriers and encourage social running, the fact there is huge participant numbers for this race means one can blend in! Also, it was running the Diff that meant I completely understood the phrase \u2018the crowd will carry you\u2019 because that\u2019s just what happens!<\/p>\n 7.<\/strong>\tAnd whilst we are on the subject of numbers, a whopping 370kg of clothing is dumped at the start of the race. 370kg I tell you! To put that into perspective that\u2019s the weight of 3.7 Giant Pandas or even better it\u2019s the equivalent of 740 female terrapins, all of which is donated to charity! <\/p>\n 8.<\/strong>\tLast year 15,000 bananas were handed out to runners which technically means 7,000 runners went without, which technically means there are 7,000 runners just like me, who are not partial to a post-race banana! <\/p>\n 9.<\/strong>\tNow, it would be plain rude of me not to mention No run Intended whist writing about running the Diff given that a lot of the book is dedicated to the race. And it would also be rude of me not to mention that it was Cardiff where I had that accident! Yes, it was running the Diff in 2014, 13 weeks after the birth of my baby girl did I\u2026well, I\u2019ll let you read about that on your own accord but I\u2019d just like to point out that most runners are not partial to that type of problem! <\/p>\n