About this time last year I told “the world” I had cancer.

I’d just helped someone run their first half marathon, the heavens had opened in the last few miles and I was due in hospital in three days to have a bit of my colon taken out.

So today’s MNDA Jersey Half Marathon held special meaning almost exactly a year on.

And to prove a point to myself, I was targeting a return to sub-2 hour half – a fact I shared with the Rock N Road Runners WhatsApp group the night before to keep myself accountable.

Waking up the next morning at 6:45, I regretted this decision immensely and really wish I’d kept my mouth shut. Arriving at FB Fields, I regretted it further when people remembered and held me to the time, mentioning that they were planning to run with me.

There’s a phrase that you “never regret a run” and it’s mainly true but I do nearly always regret signing up for them, especially at ungodly hours of the morning.

Luckily for me, there’s always a smiling welcome when I catch sight of the pink shirted Rock N Road Runners, dotted around the track chatting or warming up, depending on their level of enthusiasm.

The goals ranged from sub 1:30 to beating the three hour cut off and my self-imposed aim sat somewhere in between. Luckily the forecast bad weather hadn’t shown up so it was a mild morning, with a light covering of clouds – perfect running weather.

The race

The actual beginning of the race was a bit of a blur.

I’ve recently had to factory reset my Garmin Fenix 6X Pro because it was constantly synching and draining battery. This was the first run since and I was struggling to get used to the PacePro function.

Usually it’s really simple and gives you an obvious ahead/behind reading but this time it was swinging wildly between “bang on schedule”, and “you’re way up”. My pace on the watch was all over the show, even if it felt like we were keeping pretty constant.

(I’ve since realised it was probably that data recording was set to Smart not Every Second. This slight catch up on a route with corners meant a weird pacing)

So it felt like I spent the first three miles just looking at my watch.

I was running with Doug, Gavin, Terri, Dhas, Rachel, and Girl Sam, while occasionally catching up with various people from the running scene – this is Jersey after all.

I felt comfortable in the running, even as we began heading up the one main hill towards St Martins. I was however, sweating profusely, and struggling to keep it from stinging my eyes. I felt a slight comfort that the two girls next to me were also discussing the sheer volume of sweat being produced (not by me).

It was muggy but this wasn’t Singapore. It was supposed to be September!

By the top of the hill, we’d lost some people. I felt bad about going on with my sub-2 pacing and not slowing to help others. But as the cliché goes, everyone is on their own journey.

I stated what I was aiming for and with a marathon and an ultra coming up in the next three weeks, I should probably start training…

Me, Doug, Girl Sam and Gavin reached the always awesome Jersey Girls Run water station and just kept on trucking, past St Martin’s Church and the garden centre, cheered on by random people and also Josephine Perry, the psychologist who had given a special talk on endurance and running the previous day.

If ever there was a moment to “smile every mile” this was it.

We’d overcome the big hill, we now got to go down it. We were past half way and could smell the barn on the way home!

Except being Jersey, there was somehow a headwind as we entered Gorey, and then also as we did a 180 and heading back towards the finish line.

At around this point, we lost Girl Sam and Gavin. I desperately wanted them to stay with us but I could just about make them out a little way back and that was the last we saw of them.

Now it was just me and Doug. He’d only really started running last year and had a calf issue but had smashed out some pretty big races in between so we ambled on past the village and through an interminable amount of turns, where the houses all look the same and you feel like what you’re seeking is always round another corner.

What we were looking for here was the RNRR water station – easily the best on any course and also only 2k to go!

And there they were!

The final push, a splash of water and we were really into the last few metres. Admittedly uphill to begin with but still closing in on the end.

And being Jersey, Coach Dan was there to cheer us on. Followed by Tel at the road crossing. We turned left and into the gently sloping decline, with cheering marshals clapping us on.

As we turned into FB Fields and I sped up for a “trademark” sprint finish, Doug reminded me that he wasn’t supposed to be running quickly on his calf (not sure what that says about our previous pace) but I hadn’t run that far with him just to leave him behind.

After the ups and downs of pacing, we were only 2.5 minutes under the two hour mark so although we didn’t put the hammer down, we still had to keep up a pace through to the end. And so we did.

An almost impeccably paced run from start to finish (minus the GPS wobbles) meant a finish time of 1:57:25.

Given the year I’ve had, I’ll take that. Even if running for time isn’t my thing, it shows that bodies are incredibly resilient, not just mine.

There are so many people out there going through tough times of varying levels and I really believe that exercise and community can be a huge part of any prevention, recovery, or rehabilitation.

It may sound a bit soppy, but as I stood watching people cross the line, with their various goals and reasons for running, I couldn’t help but smile. And whistle. And cheers. And high five.

Then I went for breakfast cos I was bloody starving. Running “fast” is hard.