I could hardly believe it when I woke up bright and early on the 8th March. How had the Cambridge Half Marathon come around again so quickly? I’m always so blasé when I sign up and it seems an absolute age away, but then it sneaks up on you and the next thing you know you’re awake at 7am on a Sunday, pinning your number on to your vest and prepping your charity costume (more on that later).

Despite the fact that I’ve run quite a lot of races now, I still get extremely anxious before any race, especially in the final week. I constantly check weather reports and pray for the wind to die down, re-read the race handbook over and over in case I’ve missed something important, and bribe my sister with cake to let me get ready at her house (a nice warm-up worthy 10 minute walk from the start line). Because I was running in costume for my charity CoppaFeel!, and with a friend who was running her first ever half, I wasn’t gunning for a PB and thought it would mean my nerves would be less intense this time. I was wrong.

So back to Sunday, and Elaine and I were in the car, a tight grip on our costumes and pre-race bananas. When we arrived at my sister’s house we then spent thirty minutes blowing up balloons for our costumes (much to my niece and nephew’s delight) and applying our race chips to our shoes. By the time we left the temperature was pretty perfect for a long run, but the promised heavy cloud hadn’t materialised and the sun was pretty strong, something a pale winter-lover like me is never keen on.

As we walked to the start line and jostled our way towards the front pen (apologies to the runners who were bumped about by our costumes), the atmosphere was electric and our nerves soon turned to the familiar buzz of excitement. Before we knew it we were off, and after having to fashion a tie each for our costumes (the straps kept falling off our shoulders) we quickly settled into our stride and began to enjoy the familiar sites of Cambridge. The route was the same as last year which I was delighted about, because with such a small city it can be hard to come up with a decent route, and despite a few tight turns I think the organisers, One Step Beyond, do a great job.

As is always the case with the Cambridge Half Marathon, the crowds were absolutely fantastic, screaming your name (which was written on everyone’s race number) and whooping with extra delight at the costumed runners (amongst them Thor and Iron Man). We spotted a lot of familiar faces from the Sports Centre on our way round too, and it’s always a brilliant when you’re lucky to spot a face you recognise. One of the loveliest things we experienced was the support from other runners, who gave us lots of words of encouragement for our efforts and didn’t mind the constant squeaking of balloons too much. The wind picked up a bit on the second lap, making running with our costumes a little tricky, but on the whole we were so lucky with the weather, especially considering the snow that troubled the 2013 race.

Both the first man and the first woman were the winners in 2014, with Aaron Scott crossing the line in 1:08:48 (a couple of minutes slower than last year thanks to an ill-timed cold) and Victoria Knight beating last year’s result by around 40 seconds by coming in at 1:17:04. We finally crossed the line at 1:53:32, meaning Elaine more than achieved her target of a sub-2 hour half marathon. Who knows what she can achieve next year without a costume? Huge thanks to all of the organisers, volunteers and supporters who made the day so utterly brilliant. Roll on the 2016 race. We’ll both be there with (no) bells on.

- by Lauren Thomas