Bath half marathon

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A weekend trip to Bath is always a nice, relaxing escape from London...except when the Bath Half Marathon is on. Stupidly I entered into this half marathon, which attracts about 10,000 people each year. There was both good and bad things about the run. The good thing is that Bath, and the surrounding area, is very flat, making for a relatively easy course. The bad thing was that the very narrow cobblestone streets of town don't make for a very comfortable first couple of miles of the race before the course hits the open road.

The day before the race, we did the free two hour walking tour of Bath. The tour is run by volunteers, who have all spent considerable time in Bath and are very passionate about the town. Our guide tells us what brought people to Bath and spoke particularly about the baths themselves. We then went to Bath Circus to check out the incredibly expensive flats in the perfectly symmetrical block.

At the Roman Baths, we paid 50p to get a glass of the natural mineral water that comes from the spring, which is supposed to have curing powers. It was just warm cloudy, dirty water to me though and was so disgusting that I think its healing power was that it taste so bad you forgot what your ailment was!

We spent the afternoon at the modern Bath Spa, which feels more like gym swimming pool/sauna/hot tub arrangement. Completely packed with people it was good to get in the scented saunas which was good for the sinuses. A nice way to relax the day before the half marathon.

The run itself was a beautiful morning and while I found the cobblestone streets harsh on my feet at first, much of the run was then south out of town on beautiful country paths. By the time we re-entered town, having sore feet was the least of my worries.

The afternoon was spent as it should be in a place like Bath - in a nice warm pub watching football, before heading back to London and back to reality.

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