Natalie Cuts it Fine at the inaugural Birmingham & Black Country Half Marathon

On Saturday 5th July "fresh" from receiving her award for the Most Improved Runner of the Year at the previous Friday nights Presentation Evening, Natalie Dellar ran the inaugural Birmingham and Black Country Half Marathon together with 500 hearty souls.

The race started in Wolverhampton and was run entirely along the towpaths of  the canal to Birmingham. she writes:-

"Thanks for the award the other night, both myself and Denise were really chuffed. I’d just like to say that without your encouragement and enthusiasm we wouldn’t have been standing there getting that award; we and everyone else at the club really appreciate all the time and effort you put in to running it.

Anyway, the Birmingham and Black Country Half marathon was quite good; I was lying in bed listening to the rain lashing down this morning but by the time my wave was supposed to start, 11.30 the sun was out. It started at the waterways depot near Wolverhampton station, and I was in the last wave to be set off. I soon realised that I am now a lot quicker than I was. It worked quite well for me, because people were so spread out due to the wave starts, I would overtake one person, and be able to see the next one on the towpath to “pick off” and go past. It was actually quite hot and humid along the canals, some welcome relief from the sun was in the Coseley Tunnel and some of the bridges. The main line canal is ok, it’s not derelict or anything, but nowhere near as picturesque as the canals around Wombourne.

I managed not to look at my watch to see my time until 12.5 miles. The reason I looked at it was to check it wasn’t broken as I managed to fall over. Some of these hump backed canal bridges have little rungs on the way down (like at the Bratch) and as my legs were a bit tired, I tripped over one and went tumbling down. Denise will tell you on the few times I have tripped over, that I bounce, so I looked at my watch to discover it was still working and I was on for doing it in less than 2:30. I shot back up and made a push for the end. I ended up in doing 2:30:32 according to my Garmin. I was really pleased as I had thought I might be able to do this sort of time, it’s a real improvement for me as Lake Vrynwy was 2:53 so almost 25 mins quicker. I am very sore, but not because of the running – as a result of the fall I’ve got bruises all down my left hand side.

I don’t mean to sound harsh but having been spoilt at the Muller 10k with goody bags, the cheap plastic medal and advertising leaflets I got after slogging for 13 miles didn’t quite cut it. I just hope that most of my entry fee went to charity and wasn’t spent elsewhere. Overall it was good, would do it again, sounds rather grand to say that you ran from Wolverhampton to Birmingham. My colleagues at work will be impressed."