And so it was here! After 6 months recovery and 4 months training, the Royal Parks Half Marathon finally arrived on Sunday 13th October 2024.
Given the torrential rain that we have had so far this autumn, it could have been quite a soggy affair, but the weather was kind to us, and the forecast even had the possibility that the Sun might show itself on the day, which for me and the other 20,000 runners was something of a blessing.
Lining up in Wave 2 of 8 with my eldest son, George, I only felt trepidation. The morning was one of the coldest so far this autumn and standing for half an hour in shorts and a vest did not feel like the best warm up, but here we were.
The family sweepstake had George (26) beating me, with both of us ahead of my middle son William (23) who should be soundly beating his mother. When George decided that he needed a last-minute pit stop before the start timer, I took the opportunity to get ahead and see how long I could hold him off. Something that much to my surprise, I managed to do for 10 miles, before he overtook like a train and wasn’t seen again before the finish line.
I knew that after my back operation last year that it was never going to be a personal best time, but crossing the finish line in 1 hour and 54 minutes was better than my best expectations. George beat me by 6 minutes and 33 seconds.
In the wave 7 group William had agreed to cross the finish line with his mother but in traditional fashion she had the last word and crossed the line 1 second ahead of him.
All in all a great day out, a real shame that my daughter Jemima was injured and was unable to run on her birthday but I guess that we needed someone to carry the coats.

Final result
George Mckechnie (age 26) – 1 hour and 47 Minutes and 41 seconds.
Tim Mckechnie (age 52) – 1 hour and 54 minutes and 14 seconds.
Sarah McKechnie (age 52) – 2 hours 14 minutes and 38 seconds.
William Mckechnie (age 23) – 2 hours 14 minutes and 39 seconds.
All in the name of raising money for Cancer Research UK!