2016 Southampton half marathon

Yesterday I ran the Southampton Half for the first time.  At last year's inaugural event I had been recovering from injury and ran the smaller 10k sibling event.  I don't tend to seek out big city races, but this has quickly become a prestigious local event, and frankly it would feel a bit rude not to take part.

We all trooped into Southampton as a family.  Parking was surprisingly easy, and we made our way up to the Civic Centre.  There was a riot of loud music, shouty announcements and swarming people, which was all a bit disorientating.  Within seconds, shouty man told runners to set off to the start line, so I stripped off the layers (it was a chilly, damp 7 degrees) made quick goodbyes and got into the a huge shuffling crush.

We had to wait almost half an hour at the start line, but the sun emerged and everything felt bright and the atmosphere was great.  The off down the high street, and I tried hard not to over-pace the start.  The first km was 3:38, a bit fast really, but this was all downhill.

All familiar territory for the first few minutes, retracing last year's 10k, and then the great switchback of the Itchen Bridge.  The return leg was a lot of fun, waving to friendly faces.  Then onwards, with a detour through St Mary's stadium and a long drag northwards into an insistent cold wind.

We were in Portswood when I heard people calling out to a Neil behind me.  I looked over my shoulder and saw Neil Jennings, the Romsey Runner.  Neil is always quicker than me at club sessions, and he overtook me as we headed up the long drag of Burgess Road towards the university.  I was running well but at 10 miles starting to feel a bit heavy.  Through Highfield and a big wave from the Allan family plus friends, and then into Southampton Common and the familiar parkrun course.  There was a distinct moment when I knew for sure that it was all downhill or flat from here on.

Running around the common, I could see that I was gaining on Neil.  I pressed home my advantage and overtook him as we emerged back onto the streets close to home.  I was terrified that he was going to catch me again so I sped on.  There seemed to be a huge gap between the 13 mile marker and the finish, and I was done for at the line.  Mrs S and the kids were there, laughing at my dreadful face as I sprinted to the line.

Here are the results, and here are the Garmin stats: I finished in 1:22:08, well ahead of my target of 1:25.  I was thrilled by the whole event - really well organised and supported, and a great blast around the city.