Notes
Ran 9km down the canal down towards Hollywood and then ran up Alcester South Rd back. Kept half-marathon pace (faster than a pace of 5:00 a.k.a. 1 hr 45 min total) but it was definitely a challenge. I had energy gels at 9km and 14-15km. It felt as if they helped.
The route wasn't all that pretty. It got quite muddy between the 7-9km mark, but the canal and drawbridge at the 9km mark was quite nice. Lots of paths to parks on the left of the canal from 6km onwards.