The Great South Run is a very local run to me. It’s basically just down the road so always a fun one to enter because it’s so popular and so well supported by the locals.
It has all the feels of a big race, despite being “only” 10 miles. It’s almost like a mini-London Marathon with the atmosphere and support. It is, however, an expensive race (£46). I was luckily offered a free spot from the lovely people of Simplyhealth. I originally had plans to race it, like I did last year, but in the end I decided I’d much rather enjoy the race by running with Kyle. This is not meant to sound derogatory to Kyle, but he’d had 5 weeks off of running and had only just got back into things. This run was not about racing, but just about getting to the end without reigniting any issues. So I felt very relaxed going into this race (unlike poor Kyle, bless him).
The morning of the race was somewhat stressful when Kyle realised he’d forgotten his shorts. Clearly spending time with me is rubbing off on him and he’s developing his own “Anna(Kyle)-isms”. Luckily though his mum and sisters were going to be meeting us in Gunwharf so they were able to bring his shorts. Whew! Crisis (and lots of chafing) avoided.
Kyle was running for Cancer Research UK and has been raising money for them (if anyone is feeling a tiny bit generous, his page is HERE).
So my parents, Kyle and I headed off to Gunwharf bright and early (a lot earlier than when my mum and me left last year which resulted in SO MUCH PANIC because of traffic).
We got parked nice and early and milled around enjoying the views and taking some photos. The weather was perfect.
We then met up with Kyle’s mum, Sarah, and his two sisters, Lucy and Laura, (who are all so very lovely) and Kyle was able to get properly ready for the race. We then all headed to Southsea.
It’s about a 30 minute walk but the weather was lovely so it wasn’t bad at all. A nice leg stretcher.
On arriving at the race village area the support crew headed for important business with a bacon sandwich van while Kyle and I headed to our wave.
We did a rather enthusiastic warm-up (kind of a standard Great South Run procedure) and then we were off. Our plans were to keep it nice and gentle at the start. The problem with the GSR is that you do get a bit swept away with all the runners. The crowds are so loud and happy that you just forget all semblance of the plans you made before.
Our 9min/miles ambitions quickly turned into 8min/miles. But we were at least consciously aware of this and decided to slow down a touch but ultimately keep a bit quicker. I was relying on Kyle to feedback if he was having issues (though I did constantly ask him – which was probably just a teeeeny bit annoying for him I’m sure…).
We were running strong chatting away and enjoying the crowds for the first few miles. The sun was quite intense but I was enjoying feeling its heat after feeling a bit chilly all morning. We ran through the Historic Dockyards and saw a guy dressed up (like fully dressed up) as Henry VIII, which was amusing. We saw another guy from work and other people we knew so it felt very friendly.
I think I might have scared Kyle a bit when I would randomly shout out to club members and people I knew when I saw them as he wasn’t quite expecting it. But there were a lot of people from my club, which was nice and the switchbacks were a great time to people spot.
As we got to about 4.5 miles we saw my dad, Sarah, Lucy and Laura and they cheered us on with such enthusiasm as we passed them. It was brilliant and really boosted us.
As we got to around 6 miles Kyle got a bit quieter and I could feel he wasn’t finding it as easy as the previous miles. This would be entering distance territory that he hadn’t hit for quite a few weeks so I knew it would be a struggle at some points for him. He pushed on though and I stopped yabbering away and let him concentrate on just running (well, I tried to for the most part…). He was still in good spirits high-fiving young kids and cheering back when people shouted his name.
I spotted the lovely Carlo from my club who runs the Great South Run every year as the Cookie Monster and saw he was walking. I told Kyle I’d catch him up and I stopped to walk with him for a bit. He was having a bad day (he’s normally SUPER fast) but he was still being positive – as he always is. He raises so much money every year for MNDA and runs so many ultras and marathons – he’s a true inspiration.
I hardly needed to give him any sort of motivation or encouragement but he said it was nice that I stopped to chat so I hope it helped!
We saw my mum at another point and she waved and cheered madly as only mums can do. She’s got painful feet at the moment (long story) so couldn’t walk as far as the others but it was nice to have her at a different point anyway to keep us going.
As we got to 7 miles Kyle was finding it a bit more tough. It was very warm in the relentless sunshine so that was having an effect. Amazingly though our pace kept strong and we were pushing on. As we got round the corner I was amazed to find there was no wind. Normally along the seafront at this point the last two miles are horrendous struggle but it was clear blue skies and stillness. Hot yes but still.
My lovely friend Rebecca cheered us on which was nice (last year she missed me and I had to shout to her but this year she spotted me first). I also saw my good friend Mike ahead and encouraged Kyle to catch him up, which we did. Mike was having a good race – hitting a PB for sure but the final metres were tough all round.
With the final 100m Kyle put in a brilliant sprint – of which I struggled to keep up with!
My personal trainer was there at the finish as well and got some great photos!
My time was 01:21:06 (Kyle’s was 01:21:05). We were both really pleased. A solid run!
We then went and found our amazing supporters. They’d done so well to get round to different points in the course and were such a fantastic cheer squad.
It was a really lovely day. The weather, the running and of course the support. Family is a big thing to both Kyle and I so to have them there was really lovely. They were awesome.
Happily Kyle had no injury issues during or after. So fingers crossed this remains that way!
The Great Runs might be expensive, but they really are fantastically organised events. They usually attract a good amount of support and the atmosphere is always so boosting. I’d love to do the Great North Run one day! And the goodie bags are pretty good (Nando’s money off and sauce, protein bars, maple syrup, technical t-shirt…etc.!).
Do you do any of the Great Runs?
Do your family come to support you at races?