I really can’t believe it’s
less than two weeks til the Brighton Marathon!
I’m looking forward to it so much!
I think I’m there, and done everything I can do – the only things that are
worrying me slightly is a) what to wear (I always have this worry!) and b)
Acclimatising to the spring weather since I’ve been training all winter and
only now is it getting warm.
I’ve tried to fit my running
in at the same time of the day as the marathon – morning and over midday – and today
at lunchtime I’ll go out as it looks to be quite warm. If it’s cool, or I run first thing in the morning,
I’ll force myself to wear capris instead of shorts and arm wearers to raise my
body temperature. Bit of a dilemma as I
also need to get used to running in my new shorts (they feel quite different to
tights) and my singlet. Oh the
decisions!
Anyway, on Sunday 23rd
March I ran the Hastings Half Marathon. I
chose this one as it looks like a great sea-front race, which are always very
enjoyable, and will remind me of Brighton, and also because of the gorgeous
horse brass finisher’s memento. I love
my race medals, but this was something a bit different – yet still heavy, shiny
metal! It was also the 30th Anniversary
of the race, so set to be extra special (the race – not just the brass!).
On Saturday I did St Albans
parkrun, it was a nice day for it. Wore
my new running dress (which is actually from Adidas’s tennis collection, but
never mind!) as I like a bit of running fashion at parkrun. We’re still using the off road course, as the
normal path around the lake has been flooded since the Christmas storms and
still has not drained away. The off road
course isn’t easy, there’s a hill that you do three times and when wet it can
be very muddy and slippery at all the corners – you end up sliding backwards up
one bit! But all good fun though, most
people have an unofficial off-road PB that they try to beat as well as their
regular PB and there can be a good few minutes difference between them. Saturday was quite dry though, so although a
bit muddy, it was much easier than previous weeks, and could also be managed
fine with road shoes instead of trail shoes.
I didn’t go all out on this, but just went at my normal medium-run tempo
pace and finished in 32 minutes. Had a
nice coffee and cake afterwards at the park café – got to be done!
Afterwards I packed my
running gear and overnight bag and took the train down to Hastings. I’d had a sudden cancellation of my
guesthouse the night before which had worried me a bit – but they had managed
to find somewhere else at the last minute.
The new room was fine, a nice enough guesthouse and they didn’t charge
me any extra even though it was more expensive (I’d have complained if they
had, since it wasn’t my fault the first place had cancelled!) but it was much
further from the start line. I got a
good night’s sleep though and woke up early, and after breakfast walked the 2 miles
or so to the race HQ (with my heavy backpack and all!).
I’d tweeted a photo of myself
with my race number on twitter that morning, as had several other #ukrunchat runners
who were also running Hastings, incase we saw each other. I didn’t see anyone though, and I’m not sure if
anyone saw me, but was fun keeping an eye out all the same and compare results
afterwards! I decided to wear my pink adidas capris (my go-to tights to anything from circuits to a long run!) as they are really comfy and would probably get me noticed. Also my new London Marathon singlet, which I bought to wear at London if my charity can't get any vests printed (I'm not sure if they do, they are a very small charity so not much of a budget for those sorts of extras). I hadn't actually worn it for running yet (fears of jinxing the race!) so decided to try it out. Finally my blue arm warmers and hydration pack.
The conditions were quite
chilly at first, but it was sunny and there was a great atmosphere, plus the HQ
was right on the sea front so we got amazing views. I dropped my bags off and put my hydration
pack on, and had a wander round the runner’s village for a bit before heading
to the start line. It was quite crowded
here, and took ages to get far enough back, there were loads of spectators and
members of the public trying to get through as well. Also I didn’t see any markers or pens to
guide runners into the correct start zone (although after I’d finished I did
see one saying “80 minutes”). I got
chatting to another gentleman who had run many of the previous half marathons,
and a group of girls from a local bootcamp club. Then, off we went!
As I’d taken the Bath and
Brighton half’s, and the Surrey Spitfire 20 quite seriously, I decided I wasn’t
going to aim for a time on this one and just go out and enjoy it. I’m meant to be tapering anyway! I’d heard it was very hilly, so would go easy
on the hills if I needed to. Very true –
half a mile in and we came to the first, short, but very steep hill! The next seven miles or so were almost all
uphill, too! Including a very long slog
for about two miles before we finally starting on the downhill. I actually didn’t mind that slog as it was so
long but not too steep that it was at least easy to get a nice (slow) pace
going. I find it much harder when you go
down-up-down-up and have to change paces constantly. There was a short out-and-back section, but it wasn't very long and was nice to see a few familiar faces I'd chatted to earlier, as I went by in each direction.
There was amazing support – for a medium
sized town race it was really fantastic to see thousands of people out cheering
us on! And not just in the busy areas
either, they came out of houses onto the main roads and set up picnics on
roundabout, giving out loads of sweets and oranges. It was brilliant. The best part was at about mile 8, running
downhill through a fairly narrow but pretty road, with old pubs lining the
streets. There were loads of spectators
outside, having a nice Sunday lunch and cheering us on. They really did love to support their local
race. Although I was listening to music
(it was nice to be able to after the long run last weekend without it!!), I had
it on quietly so I could still hear the all the cheers and clapping.
We had bizarre weather – it became
quite warm at first, (I was wearing arm warmers as I needed to get used to the
heat, and although I wanted to take them off I did not), but then we had a few
minutes of hail later on!! And after I’d
finished, a very heavy shower of rain!
The final couple of miles
turned out onto the sea front, which was nice and flat but quite windy. It was a deceptively long stretch – even
though I knew I had another two miles to run (I’d even walked the same stretch
that morning from the hotel!) it still felt like the finish line should be in
sight by now! At least it was, and I
went for a sprint finish, and finished in 2.26.08.
I was given one of the lovely
Brass finisher’s gifts, which really is very impressive and a good size - one of my biggest and heaviest pieces of race bling (going to look for more
races that give out a Brass!), a cup of tea and water at the finish line, then
went to collect my bag and pull on some warm clothes, as it was quite cold in
the wind. I bought a few pieces of the
race merchandise – a keyring, whisky glass, coaster and magnet (they were very reasonably
priced!) plus a martingale to mount the brass so it looked even better and
could be hung on the wall with the other medals. I watched some of the later finishers, and
checked out my mile splits – you could certainly tell where the hills
were! It was easy to get negative splits
in this race given the first half is uphill and the second half is down – you can
do it without even trying!!
I took the train back that
afternoon and once home had a nice bath and then some ice cream in the evening. Overall it was a really great race and I’ll
be doing that one next year for sure.
Hastings Half Marathon
Bib number - 1112
Finish time (chip) – 2.26.08
Position - 2806
Below - Pre race selfie! Hastings sea front, and the finisher's Brass on it;s martingale.
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