Exclusive preview: Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon 2011 T-Shirt

I ran the first ever Royal Parks Half in 2008 (read my report). Unfortunately, they thought I was a man called Kevin and sent me a men’s t-shirt. Luckily Kevin was a bit of a weed and so it wasn’t massive but it wasn’t the nicely fitting female t-shirts I saw other girls wear.

I only realised they thought I was a man called Kevin when my recorded time was half an hour quicker than my Garmin said. Although I would have been delighted with a time of 1:54, I’m not sure Kevin was so happy with his new time of 2:25 and so I emailed the organisers who said yes, they were aware of the error but instead of swapping our times round, they just took me off and gave Kevin his proper time. Bah.

The next year, 2009, I once again entered the Royal Parks Half and received the lilac monstrosity of that year’s t-shirt.

Eek.

I didn’t make the start line that year, and so spared myself the embarrassment of running through the streets and parks of London stating that I 2 RUN. It remains unworn in my kit drawer.

For the 2010 race, I was offered a free place, but due to having moved to Kent and my running motivation being at an all time low, turned it down. Had I known that year’s t-shirt was a lovely orange one, I might have taken up their kind offer.

Thanks to fairweatherrunner for the pics.

This year, I was once again lucky enough to be offered a media place and also be one of the bloggers chosen to be sent the t-shirt ahead of the mainstream media.

Earlier this year, Royal Parks Half Marathon launched a competition in The Telegraph for a member of the public to design the back of this year’s shirt.

Richard Knight, from Chomp, was their winner with his fantastic Run the Royal Parks design and every participant will receive one of these shirts on the day of the event (9^th October).

Nice, innit?

As with all the previous years’ shirts, it’s made from eco-friendly bamboo charcoal and recycled polyester, which is made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. As well as being environmentally friendly and comfortable, they offer distinct performance properties for runners such as high absorbency, quick dry, deodorising and thermal regulation. To see the story behind the idea for the bamboo race shirts, have a look at the following link: http://royalparkshalf.com/about/sustainability/bamboo-shirts.

I wore my t-shirt out for this morning’s Juneathon run and although it was raining, the shirt kept me comfortable and dry and I’m looking forward to wearing it along with 12,000 other runners in October.

Stats
Distance: 1.55 miles
Time: 16:37
Pace: 10:44
Calories: 163
Royal Park Halfs t-shirts: 1