I ran Cardiff Half and have something to say...

If you were one of those who were lining the streets then thank you, says Political editor Ruth Mosalski

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SUNDAY was one of those days that if I hadn’t been out for a run I'd have wanted to be. The sun was shining, it was dry, Storm Amy had all but gone, and there were pockets of breeze. As the sun caught the leaves making their majestic turn to autumnal reds and browns and the sun caught the waves in Cardiff Bay it was one of those days that our capital looks at its finest.

That's not to say as I stood in the purple pen ready to start the 2025 Cardiff Half Marathon I wasn’t questioning my life choices.

Why couldn’t I just have gone for a 5km plod to see those pretty sights - why oh why did I think this was a good idea?

My training hadn’t gone to plan and for the last few weeks I've had probable Covid so as I crossed the line my only aim was to get further than my longest training run and hit 12km. After that I honestly hadn't decided whether I'd get to that distance then slope off to the side and rapidly remove my number from my T-shirt so no-one knew I hadn’t finished or simply walk the rest.

As it happened I did neither.

As I'd weighed up whether to even start so many people told me “the crowd will get you through” and there was no bit of me that thought any amount of cheering could get me through another 9km but I was wrong and I neither sloped off nor walked all of that 9km that had escaped me in training because this city, and the people in it, were brilliant and got me through.

There were brilliant signs and there were plenty of sweets.