Gosport Half Marathon 2018

I was all of a quandary for the Gosport Half Marathon this year.

Last year I ran it with my friend Martin, trying to help him PB and had really good fun. I mean, I guess he wasn’t having quite as much fun as I was as he was going for a PB time whereas I was using it as a long run but I hope it was a good day regardless for him. I did try and get Kyle a place last minute but that failed so he gamely said he’d support instead.

This year I was coming off the back of some solid marathon training and some speedy 10k training runs… so I could be in with a shot for a good time. A PB? Hmmm unlikely. I’m realistic enough to know I’m not in that sort of shape (1:31:06! I still don’t believe it). That said, a good solid full-on effort could possibly get me 1:33-34 if I was really pushing it and the weather was kind to me.

But I was in a quandary. Firstly, the weather really does make a huge amount of difference for this race. The course runs twice up and down the coast – literally next to the sea. It’s a route I regularly run for my long runs so I’m well aware of how the coastal wind can really punish or help you. As you run up AND down, it can be a game-changer. If the weather played ball, it could be a great opportunity to give it some welly as the course is very flat, but my problem was that I wouldn’t really know for certain until the day.

Secondly, I was feeling myself wussing out (as I always do) and decided to potentially shoot myself in the foot and make it into a long run regardless by running four(ish) miles to the race start in the morning. In my head this was a solid warm-up, (though realistically too long a warm-up necessary for a half marathon). Basically I was covering my bases if the run went badly then at least I’d gotten in a 17 mile run – miles in the bank, as it were.

The morning of (still undecided on how I would run) I woke up feeling very sick. This is the second time in a few weeks this has happened to me. I’m generally quite a healthy person and rarely get ill. I pride myself on my stomach of steel. I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d eaten that would have caused me an issue. The only thing that I could connect the two mornings where I felt sick was the fact that the day before I drank a can of Monster energy drink. I don’t normally drink energy drinks but I’ve found myself quite enjoying the taste (and after doing a bit of research found they wasn’t actually that much more caffeine than my regular Starbucks coffee). However, I don’t think they agree with me because the only two times I’ve drunk them has made me feel incredibly sick the next day. That’s the only thing I can think of. It might not be, but who knows? (No, I’m not pregnant – big lols to that).

Anyway, whatever the reason, I felt sick and it woke me up an hour before my alarm. When my alarm eventually did go off (I lay dozing in bed fretting and not particularly having a good time with my tummy) the major nausea had passed and I thought I might as well attempt the four mile run there and if it went badly I’d can the race.So off I went. I hadn’t had breakfast or coffee, just a bit of water. Normally if I was aiming for a PB I would have had both (can you tell I’m getting in the excuses early? ;-)) The 4.6 miles (whoops longer than I thought) actually went surprisingly well. My stomach felt fine and by the time I reached the final bit I found myself running 7.30 min/miles and not feeling it too much of a strain. The wind was a leeeetle breezy along the coast but nothing catastrophic.

I knew I wouldn’t have a stellar speedy race – the lead-up and sickness just hadn’t set me up for it and my mindset was of “ehhh I’m just not feeling it”. But I also didn’t want to waste an opportunity of decent weather and a good course. I decided to compromise with myself and aim for 7.30min/miles and no slower. That would be a solid tempo run – and with the 4.6 miles at the start, a good long run. The temptation to run with my friend Mike (who was aiming for 8 min/miles) was strong but I knew I needed to woman-up. I was in good shape, it would be a solid training run.

So I collected my bib and headed to the start with some of the other Hedgies. It wasn’t that cold (well I wasn’t anyway considering I’d done the run before) and it was lovely and sunny. As we started, I made sure to head off quickly to avoid the temptation of ditching my plan and running slower.Because I’d started a fair way back it was really tricky at the start to weave in and out of people. And then when we got onto the road it was just packed. Only one side of the road was cordoned off and this made it tricky to get properly going.

The race has a strict no headphones policy (even stating no bone conducting headphones) as it is only partial road closures. That’s fair enough. I obviously didn’t wear any so let my mind wander and listen in to other people’s conversations.I stuck to my aim of keeping around 7.30min/miles or under. To be honest it was a little dull…I’ve run up and down this exact road so many times as it’s literally where I do all my long runs, but in that respect it did make the miles disappear quickly.

At Lee-On-Solent, near where the parkrun is held, I saw my top support crew: my parents, Kyle, my sister (!!), her partner Mike and my two nieces Megan and Ellie. They whooped and cheered and I was boosted along. This is actually the first race my sister has ever come to support me at so it really was a lovely moment (she works a lot of weekends and has two kids to look after so I’ll let her off). I also saw the lovely Rebecca who cheered me on – always so cheerful!

I ran past the water station. They were using plastic pouches which I think is great in terms of dropping on the floor you won’t trip over them like bottles. However, the use of so much plastic is still bad. So much waste. However, to be fair to the organisers they did mention this on their website that they were conscious that the use of plastic wasn’t ideal but because of the wind they’re unable to use paper cups as they just fly all over the place. Tricky.At around 4 miles you get to Hill Head and turn around. There were lots of marshals and supporters cheering which was nice. I saw lots of familiar, friendly faces. (Thanks to James for the above photo. And Martin Lewis for the below photo).Then it was back up the coast to head back to where we came from. The only difference was now we were on the promenade bit rather than the above pavement next to the road. I saw my support crew again who really pushed me along. I was managing to maintain my sub 7.30min/mile pace but it wasn’t easy. It was a sustained effort. And urrrgh to do this all again, it felt very taxing on my brain.The nice part is as you run back to the start you have the faster runners coming back and you can watch them and cheer them on – and sometimes get cheers back from people who know you which is nice. I got back to the start and did the turn around. Right, just one more time!The wind was pushing us on in this direction (I wouldn’t have said it was that windy but you could feel it – and certainly feel it against you on the way back). I tried to smile when I saw people I knew but it was an effort. I definitely did not feel that amazing joy I felt during New York, and it just further reminded me of how much I love marathons and how much I dislike all other distances 😉 The pressure to go faster makes it tough (yes, the pressure that I put on myself!)Kyle mentioned later that when he saw me I looked like I was having a tough time. I was. It felt hard. Though looking at my paces this would make sense.And though I felt like I was getting slower and slower I actually wasn’t doing too badly. It felt like everyone was overtaking me but realistically I wasn’t dropping behind. I guess everyone around me was just doing a lot better! Though mile 12 was definitely a GRIND.I managed to pick it up towards the end and the final long sprint was tortuous but speedy (for me). What a relief to finish! I stumbled along and was handed a goodie bag, a chunk of cake (wheeeee!), my medal and a cold drink of water. Much better.What a difference of a race from last year! Happy smiling and loving life last year (though not racing) with a time of 1:46:40 compared to this year attempting to race in a sustained effort sort of way and getting 1:36:10 – 10 minutes quicker but probably 10 times less fun 😉What was nice was having my mum, dad, sister, her partner, my nieces and Kyle there to support me. It really was lovely. It’s such a local race to me and running a race round the roads I normally do my long runs is quite bizarre. It’s a little dull, yes, but it’s a good course with good support. Lots of my running club do it as well which makes for a friendly and fun run too. And of course there is good cake 😉

I’m glad I didn’t wuss out completely but I’m also glad I did the miles beforehand. I feel like I got a really good (but tough) long run in. I don’t often use a long run as a proper training run (to be fair, I don’t often do training runs…). Happy days.

Do you like to run to races?

Would you do a race round where you normally run?

Hatfield NT Half Marathon

I signed up to the Hatfield Half Marathon because my lovely Marathon Talk friend, Kate, was organising it and mentioned it to me. Hatfield is quite a distance from me (about 2.5 hours away) but as it was towards Ipswich way it made sense (to me anyway) to combine the two in one weekend to limit potential future driving.

The half marathon sounded really nice as well. Running two laps through Hatfield Forest National Trust, fairly flat but off-road. I wouldn’t be aiming for a time, just a nice scenic plod round. My friends Michelle and John were joining to run as well so it would be a nice housemates reunion (we all stayed together in a lodge in February in the Sandy Balls Run Camp).

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d helped Kate and her husband Chris do some of the course set-up the day before and had enjoyed a very tasty Domino’s Pizza for dinner. As their house was about 15 minutes from the forest, it meant I could actually have a nice lie-in on a race day. Chris and Kate, with their kids, left a lot earlier and being so lovely let me sleep in and come later. It was very strange getting up in someone else’s house without them being there…and trying to work out how to use the shower (I don’t usually shower before a race but I felt I needed to freshen up after the day before) and their coffee machine. Not easy feats I tell you!

The race started at 10am and at about 9am I left to head to the race. I’d like to add that I left WITH MY TRAINERS.I feel this is an important point to make due to past experiences with my previous half marathon.
On arrival (parking was great and £3, so super cheap) I walked a short distance to the race HQ area and met up with Michelle to grab our bibs.
It was nice to see Michelle. She’s coming back from injury but is still super speedy. John arrived shortly after. John, likewise, was coming back from some time off so wasn’t aiming for a speedy time. It sounded like we were aiming for around the same time so we decided to run together, which was nice.
I overheard someone say that you really wouldn’t know you were near an airport (Stansted) if you were just teleported into the forest. This was so true, except for the occasional plane flying overheard it was like you were in some deep forest far away from civilisation. It was so scenic and pretty. A really love place for a race but also a lovely place to bring friends and family and spend the day.Kate was zooming around the place doing last minute event organiser business but she did the welcome announcement and start.It was cool to see someone you know starting a race for over 300 people. And so we were off!I feel like I mentally nodded at and was grateful for every sign that I saw. It makes me realise how much effort it really is to set a course up for a race (or in fact, the organisation in general that goes in to it all!) after being a tiny part of that the day before.John and I ran nice and easily, chatting away and catching up. I couldn’t really have gone much faster to be honest. Not at the start. It was hot and sunny and despite being in a forest a lot of the route was actually out of the shade. The ground underfoot was tricky as it was basically dry grass (due to the hot weather). In fact, it did look a bit like the African savanna at times.I was really glad to be running with John because running didn’t feel particularly smooth or easy today. It felt a bit of a grind. The scenery and company certainly helped!There were a few water stops on route (cups) and young little helpers armed and ready with water pistols to squirt anyone who shouted for it. It was a lovely welcome relief! John and me walked through the water stations to grab a drink and drink properly. We were in no hurry. This was just a “bimble”.There was a lovely section that went through the woods which was really nice because it, obviously, meant being out of the sun. It was a bit easier underfoot as well. This then led to a stretch out in the open and over grass with a bit of undulation before we reached the first lap. So this would mean a tough finish. Though our pace was still fairly easy at around 8 min/miles.Now we knew what was to come. We continued chattering away about life, the universe and everything and gradually our pace became a bit stronger and faster. It was very hot though. The marshals were fantastic, cheering us along and being super positive. One of the water stations even had a Mexican theme with sombreros and fake mustaches which was amusing.

As we got back round to the lovely wooded area a guy running near us asked what time we were aiming for. As we weren’t actually aiming for any time (or really had an awareness of what time we were going to be finishing) John replied, “not really aiming for anything, just bimbling round” (this is my new favourite word by the way). Then realised how that might sound and clarified that we were just running for fun rather than pushing for a certain time. It turns out it was the man’s first half marathon and he was aiming for a sub 1:50. We worked out we’d probably be finishing under that time so told him he was welcome to stick with us.

As we got to the last two or three miles we had gradually begun to speed up without really knowing. John helpfully told the guy running with us that we’d unintentionally sped up. And with that increased speed we gradually left him behind. As we got about a mile and a half away I felt myself building a bit more speed up. John told me to go on. I felt bad leaving him but equally I wanted to finish strong. Plus I would have been more than happy for him to have done the same to me had it been reversed.The final mile was tough going in the heat of the sun and slightly undulating (well, a bit bumpy but not hilly per se).I managed to overtake a few people which helped keep me motivated I saw the finish, heard them shout my name over the speaker (they got it right for once!) and sprinted to the end. I saw Kate at the finish which was lovely. And then John finished soon after. Sadly the guy who ran with us just got over 1:50, but he seemed happy enough with this time for his first half.My time was 1:48:24 and 3rd in my category position (but I believe 4th female). I will happily take that! Michelle was 2nd female, the speedster (just under 1:42).After finishing the three of us chilled out a bit on the grass enjoying the sunshine. I took my trainers and socks off ready for a free post-race massage. How good is that! Though they did accept donations (as I had no money on me Michelle kindly donated for me).I was then keen to head off home. It was about a 2 hour 15 minute drive and I just wanted to get on the road and get back. I wanted to be home at a decent time so I could chill before work the next day.This was a fantastic race that I really recommend. Not necessarily a PB course but beautiful, friendly and good fun. Thanks Kate!

Do you ever do races just for fun?

What’s your favourite surface to run on?

Do you like a post race massage straight after?

Ipswich parkrun – one letter left!

Another recap from a couple of weeks ago…Continuing my parkrun Alphabet Challenge. The letter ‘I’ was always going to be a tricky one for me.

Inverness parkrun would have been a nice option and my initial idea was that I could do the Loch Ness Marathon in September and do the parkrun the day before. However, that weekend my parents need me to dog sit as they’re on holiday. So that scuppered that plan.

Happily though I have friends in Ipswich and I reached out to Ade and Bex (who I’d met on a Marathon Talk run camp and have been friends with since) and asked if they’d be about so I could catch-up and have some brunch after with them. Bex was super lovely and offered to have me stay on Friday night. This was so helpful considering it’s around 4 hours from Southampton to Ipswich. I didn’t really fancy a 4am leave time on Saturday morning.

I took Friday off as I thought driving to Ipswich straight from work Friday evening would probably be pretty gnarly with traffic. So it meant a nice little lie-in Friday morning, a quick gym visit (always nice before you sit in a car for hours), lunch and then I was on the road by 12.

Ideally I wanted to have left by 11am but I’m always late so 12 wasn’t too bad. What was bad was the then 5.5 hour journey that I endured to get to Ipswich. Oh the M25 is just a joy isn’t it? I also managed to plan a very badly timed service stop at South Mimms which proved to be a nightmare leaving the motorway for and then joining the motorway after. But it was an absolute necessity considering that I was absolutely bursting for a wee. My water bottle was getting dangerously tempting let’s put it that way!

I’d planned to meet Ade and Bex at Pizza Express in the middle of Ipswich as Bex had the Twilight 10k that evening and it seemed like an ideal early dinner location to meet-up. I could also then support her at her race. Unfortunately, being the idiot that I am, when I got back onto the motorway from the services I had unknowingly put Bex’s address into my SatNav rather than the car park near Pizza Express. So instead of arriving there I ended up outside her house… I therefore missed dinner at Pizza Express (I urged them to carry on as I was now going to be later and I didn’t want her eating too late to her race). I managed to get into Ipswich, buy myself a Subway and then meet them just before her race. Ah well! As Anna’isms go, it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.I enjoyed watching Bex’s race. She did really well, though missed her PB that she was aiming for as it was quite humid. It was a two lapped flat course going through the centre of Ipswich. Ade and I stood and cheered outside a bar enjoying the fact that we weren’t running (I hate 10ks). The lead guy was miles ahead of everyone else and finished in an impressive 30:xx time. I mean whaaaat.The next morning we headed out to Ipswich parkrun. It was a very warm morning and I knew that the course wasn’t a flat one so I decided to just see how it went. To be honest, I’m not in my best shape having let the speedwork decline a bit for a while to give myself some time off intense training before my New York marathon training ramps up. My calves have intermittently been a bit tight as well so I’m trying not to aggravate them into a full-blown niggle.Ade was timekeeping as he had suffered a probable calf strain earlier in the week, so it was just Bex and I. As we got started from the cricket pitch I felt my legs responding and finding myself sitting nicely at 7min/mile pace. It was mostly on grass but easy underfoot.It was an undulating course but not hilly, and a one lapper which is always novel, with lots of windy turns. We also ran past Chantry mansion which was a very beautiful and old-style building.

(Photos from Facebook)

I kept pushing the pace and as I ran past a marshal they told me I was first female. I didn’t think I was but after a couple more said the same I decided to believe it. I wasn’t running full-out though so this was a nice surprise. There is a nasty hill towards the end which I pushed up and then it was back round the cricket pitch to the finish. I finished in 22:03 and in 18th position (1st female) which I was quite surprised about. I think there were a lot less runners though due to the 10k race the night before. Bex did well considered she ran the race!
The parkrun was lovely and friendly and offered teas, coffees and cake in the pavilion house for a small donation. I love this! They didn’t have a cafe nearby so this was perfect for keeping the community feel going. I also got to meet the lady behind the Twitter handle which was quite amusing as she’d commented on one of my Tweets not long before the start of the parkrun.

Afterwards we headed for a ‘parkrun fresh’ breakfast in the Suffolk Water Park, a proper greasy spoon affair. We sat on the benches outside overlooking the fishing lake and it was very peaceful. I went for a full English (of course) and swapped the fried potatoes for black pudding #winningIt was very tasty!

After showering I parted ways and began my next part of the weekend, driving to Hatfield to see more Marathon Talk friends, Chris and Kate, who were also lovely enough to let me stay at theirs that evening. Kate works for the National Trust and it was an event she was organising, single-handedly I hasten to add. What a superwoman, eh?

I got to Kate’s and then we headed out to Hatfield Forest to get cracking on setting up some last minute event bits, such as the goodie bags and the course signs.They got an assembly line of volunteers together to fill the bags with a banana, a KIND bar, leaflets, medal and water. It was cool to see the behind the scenes stuff.
Chris, the ranger Ben and I headed out to the course (the forest itself) to set the signs up for the race. We packed the Jurassic Park jeep (my name for the little off-roader car) with all the signs we’d need (“Keep left”, “mile X”, “Water ahead”, etc.). It was a hotAt first this was good fun. The off-road vehicle was so much fun to be driven around in. It just cruised along nicely over the uneven surface and the (albeit warm) breeze in our faces was nice as we got to the first point we needed to mark out with signs. It was nice as well for Ben to be with us as he gave us inside scoops of the area (where Roman roads used to be, where a plane crashed…).

We were using the course map with Kate’s annotations of where and what signs should be used. The course was a two lapper so at least that meant we didn’t need to travel 13.1 miles about the place but it still took a very long time. The fun soon wore off. We were all hot, tired and a bit frustrated.

Eventually Kate rang and suggested I come back with her and her kids while Ben and Chris continued. I was the only one running the race the next day and probably needed to come back and eat something for dinner. Ben and Chris were absolute troopers though finishing it off (it took until well after 8pm!).

Kate and I ordered some Domino’s Pizza for want of a better idea. We were all too exhausted to go out anywhere and that seemed the perfect option. I went for a medium Meteor pizza with mozzarella meatballs as a side and, as always, am ever surprised by my seemingly insatiable appetite. I rarely ever order takeaway pizzas (Indian being my takeaway of choice) buy I polished it off quite easily. But it was a solid (wellll, fairly solid) pre-half marathon meal choice and I went to bed feeling well fueled and with a very good idea of what the course would entail in the next day’s race!

I’ll recap the race in another post!

Have you ever set up a race course? I’ve done parkrun many times but this was another level!

Have you ever had a takeaway pizza as a pre-race meal?

How far would you drive for a parkrun?

The South Coast Half Marathon

Otherwise known as the race I forgot my trainers for… Yes this did actually happen. How, after so many years of running, can I manage such a feat? Hmm, well if you’ve been reading here for long you probably realise this is just another normal day in Anna La La Land.

I’d signed up this half marathon fairly late. It was going to be Kyle’s first half marathon and having pretty much gotten him into running I was keen to see how he’d do. Plus I hadn’t done a race in quite a while (I think the last one was the Jersey Half?). I wasn’t going to be racing it but it’s always nice to do a race once in a while – a catered long run if you will.

Unfortunately this race was in Seaford, which is past Brighton. So about two hours from me. As the race started at 9am this meant for a very early morning. The plan was to leave the house at 6.30am. As I had two hours in the car I didn’t stress about putting my compression socks and trainers on just yet and just threw on a pair of flip flops instead. Then we went on our merry way.

As we got to Chichester (about 40 minutes into our journey) I realised I hadn’t actually picked up my trainers. WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. HELL. Who does this?? When I tentatively dropped this bombshell to my parents they first reacted as all normal people would, “are you joking?” before sighing and turning the car around to go home again. They’re very chilled individuals and having known me for 30 years they’re aware of my significant flaws in intelligence. So there’s no point getting angry or stressing out. We did have to work out how likely it was that we could drive home and back again and still make the race. Regardless, I would be going to the race to support Kyle as I said I would but I was hoping I would actually get to run as well!

It was very sweaty bottoms I tell you. I had to do a mad dash into the house to grab my trainers and then mad dash back out again. Our ETA for the race was floating around 8.55-9am. This was going to be close. I decided that I would start the race up to 10 minutes late. It was chip timed so realistically it wouldn’t matter but it would be stressful – and would the organisers even allow this?

I text Kyle telling him the situation (he wasn’t entirely surprised, also used to my Anna’isms) and he said he’d grab my bib for me to save me time. As he arrived before me he gave me a good idea of the car park and how far it was from the start (not far at all). I arrived at 8.55am, my parents dropping me off next to the race area while they parked. I spotted Kyle and we both joined the portable loo queue, which wasn’t that long, and I put my bib on. WHEW. What a relief eh!

The realisation hit me that I’d have to run 13.1 miles in a second. Okaaaay. The weather was horrendous. It was SO windy and chucking it down with rain. I felt somewhat of a relief that I hadn’t had to stand in it for that long before I ran! But also sorry for Kyle and his family who did have to stand in it for a period of time.The course was right next to the sea and ran 2.5k up the prom and then 2.5k back. Four times. There was no shelter from the sea, wind or rain. It was going to be a fairly tough-going first half for Kyle! Relentless, Biblical weather. Right then, let’s go.As soon as we started I realised the wind was right behind us. This was a nice start of course because it felt like we were being gently pushed along. This was a bit dangerous though as it led us into a false sense of security and the danger of running too fast. Kyle and I were running together and I was so glad because this was going to be a tough one.With long stretches of flat, miserably wet concrete ahead of us and wind slapping us around, we tried to keep positive and not let the conditions bring us down. 2.5k went very quickly and we were soon turning around to head back again. Straight away the wind was in our faces. Now the real effort would begin. Spray from the sea was battering against us like mini knives on our faces and we could barely talk to each other because of the noise. We decided any conversation would need to happen in the other direction! I’ve never had issues with ears during a race, but the wind blowing straight into it was a nightmare.What was good about this course though was that for spectators it was brilliant. OK not in the terrible weather that day but in general. They would see us a number of times. Kyle’s family had come down to watch, as had both my parents. My mum doesn’t usually come to races as she doesn’t like to leave the dogs alone for long stretches at the weekend but my dad hadn’t been feeling great so she came to join. With all the rain and wind, I’m sure she wished she was back at home though 😉Kyle’s family did a fantastic job of taking lots of photos and everyone cheered us on, which was just lovely. Definitely the kind of support we needed that day!The second lap was uneventful but still consistently wet and windy. I said to Kyle that the third lap would be the worst because it would be in the thick of the miles but not close enough to see the end in sight. He was doing really well. He’s a strong runner and this was a tough day. We’d originally worried about it being too hot. We weren’t prepared for this! The triathlon that was supposed to be happening as well had to be cancelled due to the conditions too.Each lap we saw our respective supporters and that boosted us along. We made sure to heartily thank the marshals as well. They were absolute heroes standing in ponchos getting absolutely blown away. We were, to some degree, fine running and staying warm, but any supporters and marshals had to endure the conditions by just standing there. I honestly think that’s worse.My hair was getting seriously thrown around the place during this race. It was quite the hindrance to have a pony tail continually slap you in the face I tell you! Though we didn’t really need that much water during the race, when we did get a cup it was so hard to actually drink because the water would just fly out of it.

On the final lap away from the finish (so this is about 10 miles in) we were mentally preparing ourselves for the last 2.5k against the wind. As we turned back around for the finial time, the grind was fully on. Heads down, no talking, just pushing on. I led just slightly and hoped this would pull Kyle along. The final bit of a half marathon is no joke, especially when it’s your first one and wind is directly against you.As we came round the corner to get to the finish we heard both sets of family screaming madly at us and we both sprint finished to the end, Kyle just finishing next to me (he always has a great sprint finish). I heard the announcer say our names (“Anna Smith-Jones” *SIGH*) and then we collected our goodie bags and medal.My time was 1:48:05 (Kyle’s was 1:48:07). We were super chuffed. Kyle’s aim had been a sub 2 hour half (though I knew he’d do better. I thought, without the wind, he should be aiming for 1:45-46ish). Apparently I was third female as well which was quite cool. I got an extra goodie bag and a little trophy. A huge thank you to both sets of supporters (and the marshals of course) because honestly the weather was TERRIBLE and though we had to run in it, they had to stand in it which is 100 times worse. They were soaked and wind-swept, but still smiling and congratulating us. What legends.The goodie bag was great. There was a protein bar, High5 goodies and porridge. And in my extra goodie bag I got a 2kg bag of porridge (the race was sponsored b Mornflake) and lots more High5 stuff. Not too shabby at all! The funniest part was getting home and having to cut my hair bobble in order to free and wash my hair. Check out this absolutely ridiculous volume I acquired.A tough but fun half marathon. I’m glad it wasn’t ridiculous hot but it’s a shame we were (literally) held back a bit. And shout out to my mother for dropping my medal on the drive, so we got to watch it roll away down the road haha 😉 We did manage to retrieve it!

What’s the best thing you’ve gotten in a goodie bag?

How do you cope with bad hair after a race?

Jersey Half Marathon

Though my main reason to go to Jersey (other than to have a jolly with my mate, Mike) was to get my ‘J’ parkrun for the Alphabet Challenge, the timing of the trip was chosen due to the fact that there was also the Jersey Half Marathon.

We could have flown back Saturday afternoon but neither of Mike or I had been to Jersey so wanted to make the most of going there by also doing the race. We stayed another night in our quaint little guest house and my alarm was set for the rather leisurely time of 7am. I had those packages oats you add hot water to for breakfast and a pot of tea before we left to walk to the bus station to catch our shuttle to the start. We didn’t have to pay as it was all organised by the race.The weather was rather muggy and humid. You could see the moisture in the air. It was nicely overcast though and misty which meant though we wouldn’t get the best views of the seafront that we’d run next to we wouldn’t get the sun beating down on us. Though the humidity was annoying.Nothing like being shuffled together with other runners to make you nervous I can tell you. Everyone talking about PB’s, training runs and injuries. Neither Mike or I were feeling very ready for the race. Mike had had some time off due to illness and his furthest run had been a while ago. I was feeling tired and my calves felt tight and one of them felt niggly. I just wasn’t feeling a fast race at all. Weeks before, on my marathon and 5k PB highs, I’d viewed this race as another possible PB-attempt. I don’t usually have big goal races like this as in general I hate the pressure and quite like to just ‘enjoy’ races. However, rarely have I ever been in such good shape. Or so I thought anyway. After a week of rubbish feeling running, I was now backtracking that goal (standard Anna).After 20 minutes or so we’d arrived at the race start area where there were some proper toilets and a few portable ones. We peed, milled around and then dropped our bag (easier to share one bag) at the bag drop and then headed to the start. There were about 700 runners and as the roads weren’t closed it was a bit chaotic getting everyone across the road, but otherwise it was very organised and easy.I wished Mike good luck and decided to head nearish to the front. I’d decided to just see what happened – but give myself the best shot. Start running, see how the legs felt and go with the flow. If I went fast so be it, if I went fast and then flagged so be it. I had my Aftershokz on lined up with some good tunes. Then we were off!
The first mile was pretty much downhill the entire way. It was fantastic but also terrifying. My watch was saying 6.30min/mile pace – FAR too fast. This is my (good) 5k speed!! But I thought “ah what the hell, it is downhill”. I had two really irritating guys next to me getting far too overexcited, jumping about the place and shouting which I wanted to get away from too. They were flying all over the road and yelling and just being a bit mental.

Several people flew past me – including a number of females. Previously when I was eyeing up this race as a possibility of a fast run I’d checked last year’s results. The first female had got a time of around 1:33. As my PB was 1:34:30 I’d wondered if I could place in the top three. There were prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd as well as age categories. But as I saw all these girls fly past me I decided to put that dream to bed, as well as the fact that considering how fast I was going on the FIRST mile I was likely to detonate at mile four.

The problem with downhills is that it feels so easy, so when you eventually get back to the flat or an uphill it feels horrendously hard. Like, yes Anna this is what a 6.45 mile really feels like, you idiot. Mile two continued in a similar vein but I managed to pull myself back a bit, as well as the downhill levelled out a bit. But then suddenly we went sharply uphill as we pushed our way up a windy hill. Ooof that felt awful.

As the roads weren’t closed off there were a number of cars that had to slowly creep by us or wait for us to pass. You had to be savvy and aware of what was going on (Aftershokz hugely help with this, allowing me to hear what’s going on). The marshals were great of course but I can imagine it was tricky at times for them. There weren’t a huge amount of supporters as it was a fairly low key event, but it was nice when you passed a bunch and they cheered.

Around mile three I was feeling a bit low. I  knew I’d gone out too fast and now I was dealing with the aftermath of that. I kept going back and forth in my mind of what I should do for the race. I saw some Jersey cows grazing at the side of the road. I realised I hadn’t taken any photos of them on this trip (Jersey cows are are something Jersey is famous for, with their milk and cream). So I vowed the next lot I saw I’d take my phone out and snap some pictures, and that would take the pressure of the run and I could just have an “enjoy the scenery” run. The scenery was beautiful. It was very rural – lots of greenery, rolling hills and the sea next to us. But it was very misty so didn’t showcase it as could as it could have.

By mile four we were running down a long straight road. I started to cheer up a bit as I found my groove and had mentally taken the umming and arr’ing about how to run the course. I decided to just go with whatever and see what happened. I saw a few females ahead and noticed I was catching them. I used that as a distraction, idly wondering what position they were in.This massively helped keep my pace up. Trying to reach the next female, it gave me something to focus on suddenly. What also helped were the small pockets of people (literally 3-4 people). I smiled and waved and enjoyed myself. One guy shouted “you’re my favourite runner so far! She’s smiling!” which made me laugh. I mean, it was random but nice.

The day before I’d spoken to a fellow parkrunner who’d told me a bit about the course. She said there was a killer hill around mile seven but there was some nice downhill after. She also said the final 5k was normally straight against the wind as it was right on the promenade. So when we turned round the corner and hit a horrendous hill I wasn’t surprised. I saw a girl half-way up and decided to do my damnedest to catch her. Unfortunately there was also a photographer up the hill too… great. I’m sure I was gurning away nicely for the shot.

The hill seemed to go on forever and when it finally ended I felt the energy had drained from my legs. Happily I’d overtaken the lady I’d spotted, but then I spotted another female ahead. I was also aware that I needed to maintain my position. I made it my next mission to catch her. It was a good way to get my focus back and crack on.And then it was the blissful downhill. I decided to just go for it. Leg my legs go a bit looser and just lose myself. My pace cranked up but I just went with it. I was running the course for what it was and decided that if I could make up some speed here then so be it. I might crash later but whatever, let’s go crazy. Suddenly the course seemed familiar. I recognised this packed sandy track… we were leading on to the parkrun route I’d run the day before. How cool. Instead of turning around though where we did yesterday we carried straight on down the railway path.

These were the best miles. I was absolutely flying and loving life. I mean, it was downhill so it was pretty good. And I was picking off people as I went. But then I hit mile 11 and suddenly we were back on the flat and life was hard again. I hit the promenade, the sea on my right looking all misty and grey, and the wind was boom against me. The graft was on.It was literally like focus on every single breath, focus on every single step getting my closer to the finish and focus on the miles ticking down. There were two things that hugely helped keep my pace going. Number one there was a girl I could see in the distance, and I could tell I was gaining on her. And number two was the memory of maintaining seven minute miles for the last three miles of the Brighton Marathon. If I could do that at the end of a marathon I could do faster at the end of a half. It gave me great confidence and belief in myself. I wasn’t going to combust, I wasn’t going to break, I could keep going.

What amazes me is that I ran a sub-21 minute for the final 5k! Faster than my parkrun the day before, which felt pretty tough to me at the time. The wind wasn’t behind me and it definitely felt like “oh my god this is hard”. Minimal smiles and larking about now, I tell you. But no one overtook me.I caught the girl and couldn’t see anyone ahead now. This was painful and mentally hard to maintain the pace with no one to catch now (the other runners too far ahead) but I only had a mile or so to go. Two songs. Come on. I finally saw the finish area but as I turned round the corner to get there I was confused about where to go and headed where I thought it was (there was no big arch or anything). As I ran across the grass I saw loads of people yelling and pointing at me, telling me I was going to the wrong way! I had to quickly change direction, leap over a flower bed and actually go the right way to the finishing funnel. Whew!

As I finished I was gasping for air and feeling absolutely pooped. I walked slowly to the medal and t-shirt collection bit and then stood bent over with my hands on my knees for about a minute catching my breath before looking up at the lady who was stood staring at me waiting for my name. She laughed though when I apologised for making her wait.My time was 1:31:06. The race director came over and asked for my name and race number. I asked him where I’d placed and he said second female! The first female time was an absolutely belting 1:23. I mean whaaaat. I’d never have caught her in a million years but I’m super pleased I caught all the other ladies up (and 44 seconds ahead of the third female!). I was 28th overall (out of 529). I will take that! And a PB by well over three minutes!!!The prize giving was to be 6pm that evening but we were catching our flight at 2.30pm so I spoke to the race director. He said sadly I wouldn’t be getting my bottle of champagne then but he’d post my trophy. How cool! Also, turns out I’ll get two trophies: one for second female and one for first senior female (the lady who came first was a +40!!).I waited for Mike to finish, chilling on the steps drinking much needed water, before realising I should probably collect our bag. He finished in 1:56 which he was pleased with, considering he hadn’t trained for it and wanted to take it easier (his PB is around 1:45). He was very happy with how it’d gone, though he had said he had probably gone too fast and would have preferred it to have been 10 miles not 13 😉Then we literally had to quick march back to our hotel, shower and find some lunch pronto. It was now 11am and our flight was 2.30pm. We were going to get to the bus stop for 1pm so we were pushing it. In quick time we got sorted and then hit the street looking for somewhere to eat… Only to find that Jersey turns into a ghost town on Sunday. Literally no where was open. After desperately hunting around we found one of the only pubs open and thankfully serving food. We sat outside as it was warm and noticed several other half marathoners around us proudly wearing their medals and t-shirts. A happy crowd indeed.
I wasn’t hugely hungry or fancying anything crazy so stuck with a simple meaty wrap. Crazy I know. Then we hot footed it to Costa to get a coffee before grabbing a bus to the airport. Easy peasy.

Our trip to Jersey was great! I’m so chuffed I got the ‘J’ parkrun done – that was the most important thing. But I’m also hugely pleased with my new PB. In my head I wondered if I could get close to a 1:32 time when I was ‘feeling’ it, but the week before and the day of I honestly didn’t think I’d break 1:40, that’s how rubbish I felt. So to exceed that beyond what I could imagine, I am over the moon. It’s given me such confidence. I think what helped was racing it for a place rather than a time. Having those females to try and overtake massively helped and took away thoughts about what pace I should be aiming for. I literally just wanted to get past each one and that pushed me on.

I do wonder about those downhills though… I think they definitely helped. So part of me wonders whether to take this time with a pinch of salt. I have two half marathons later in the year that are flat though I might aim for one of those…but then again, this is me we’re talking about 😉

Have you ever not felt a race only to then do well at it?

Do you like a race with downhills?

Have you ever raced a race for a position rather than a time?