St. Albans Half Marathon 2011

St. Albans Half Marathon 2011, a set on Flickr.

This weekend our tribe braved the British summer wind and rain to go and be part of the St. Albans Half Marathon. Jane (lovely wife) was running her second race at this distance, and had been coaching some friends over the past twelve weeks. We know quite a few people taking part, most of them forming a group called Team Bolam. This was put together in memory of a friend, Kevin Bolam, who sadly died from bowel cancer earlier in the year. His wife, Caroline, formed the team as a fundraising event to raise money and awareness for charity Beating Bowel Cancer. Many of the team had never run a race event before. Along with the runners, the team fielded some power walkers for the separate walking half marathon. These brave souls started at eight in the morning, and had to endure much more of the horrible weather conditions
Jane has also helped Jackie, one of our neighbours to prepare for the race. Jackie is raising money to help children with autism, along with her husband Jim, who is a seasoned runner.
Our son, James, also ran his second half marathon, and did us proud when he stormed in at a time of 2 hours and 8 seconds. He is of course recieving much ribbing about the 8 seconds, but we are all very impressed, and proud of his achievement.
The rest of us cocked a snoot at the rain by sheltering under a tree for an hour or so to cheer on all the runners. Despite being a grotty day weather wise, I think everyone had an amazing time, with emotions running high. They all did amazingly, and are such an inspiration!