Southampton half marathon, 2017

I managed to knock out a blinding 1:22:08 this time last year.  The odds for this year were a bit mixed... on the one hand, I had a reasonably good spell of races, over the last few weeks... on the other, this was my third race in 7 days which may have been over-cooking it, and what's more I hadn't run 13 miles since the Berko half in early March.  All this feels like I'm getting my excuses in early.  I finished today in 1:24:53 (1:24:40 chip time) which is almost exactly what I did at Berkhamsted on a more challenging course and with more benign weather.

We parked in an almost completely empty carpark just a few minutes from the start.  Mrs S, Jem, Finn and I walked up to the Civic Centre where all the usual boomy pre-race stuff was well underway.  It was nice to see plenty of familiar faces.  The sun was peeping in and out of misty cloud, with everything pointing to a cool, sunny morning ahead.

Ready for the off

The start was very sudden, just a parp on the horn, and off we went.  After a few minutes we were on to Southampton Common and running part of the parkrun, and then it was a long downhill to the Itchen basin.  My legs were feeling less than fresh from fairly early on and I didn't feel like I was fizzing with energy.  Into the second half, and there were a few quite dull stretches where it was hard to keep focused - but having said this, the support from the good people of Southampton was terrific.

I perked up at about the point where we reached St Mary's stadium, where we were really into the final section.  Soon after this we joined the 10k runners, and I was looking out for the lovely Mrs S; not seeing her suggested she was doing well.

The Itchen bridge is always longer and steeper than I remember it to be.  There was a lot of noise and energy and I enjoyed this section, although it was a bit hairy as there were huge numbers of slower 10k runners and overtaking was a bit perilous. Off the bridge, we were suddenly near the end.  I overtook Natan Renyard (Hardley) and James Battle (Romsey) which felt good, and tried to crank it up into the final kilometre.

I had a bit of a panic near the end.  There was a left-or-straight-on junction, and I waved my arms in a which-way gesture; left, they told me.  A few seconds later I was looking about me and everyone had 10k race numbers.  I was in a flap about what to do and contemplated turning around. I kept going, and then spotted another half runner... of course... straight on was for second-lap marathoners. I less-than-sprinted to the finish, pretty much done for.

On paper, Mrs S and I were due to finish our respective races at the same time.  We had had many conversations about what we should do if we met up ahead of the finish.  Jointly crossing the line would have been lovely, but I was thrilled that she clocked in a PB of 52:04, three minutes before me. J and F were comically appalled by my awful sweatiness, and the alcohol-free lager they dished out at the end was, to my surprise, utterly delicious. 

West Wight, the first RR10 and the Southampton half... what an exciting week it's been.

Mrs S and I cooling off at the finish

With J&F, the race support crew