We went up to Birmingham on a beautiful autumn morning to cheer Rachel on in her first half marathon. She's always done a lot of sport but previous running has been limited to Race for Life's three miles (in fairness she does that without any training whereas I struggle to manage to run that without walking bits even after training). Anyway we were really proud that she managed to go from 3 miles to 13 over 6 weeks of training. We chose a spot that would allow us to see her at 3.5 miles on the way out and 7 miles on the way back. On the left is 3.5 - she, along with everybody else, looked a bit hot and 'focussed' at that point though she was running steadily. Bottom right is at 7 miles and she had to run across the field and wave at us because we hadn't spotted her. She was looking very comfortable at that point and was going fast enough that I only got a bit of her back disappearing! We then headed off on the train to central Brum for the last lap but the distances were further than I'd realised from the maps (and in fact we could have parked nearby and driven up to the station - obviously it was my fault that we didn't do that - poor planning despite never having been before and not knowing the area - so Nigel made me walk fast!) so we managed to just miss her on the last mile and then last half mile twice - but her flat mates were there at the end seeing her through the finish. Top right - the nearest I'll ever get to a half marathon medal!
@busylady yes - I'd have had words with Rachel if she'd been wearing those shorts! The Brat club had a blind and able bodied pair running - in fact we saw about three pairs - impressive to run in such a huge crowd if you're blind - must be mentally draining over 13 miles and the guide has to run he right pace as well.
super mother / daughter pic too (although you look a tad windswept)