What an amazing experience The Bournemouth Marathon Festival and my first proper Run For Fun meet up was.
The weekend started with my mom and I driving up to Bournemouth on the Saturday morning just over two and half hours drive later and we had arrived at Kings Park drive car park, this was the intended car park we would use the morning of the race and I wanted to check out how many spaces there were and payment for parking etc. We pulled up on what turned out to be the start of a football match so got discounted parking for £1 bonus! The car park was huge and I was happy that this would be where my Bournemouth half marathon journey would start the following morning. After a busy day walking around Boscombe beach and looking in the shops we made our way back to freshen up for our meal with the Run for Fun gang.
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| Mom, Me, Maureen, Paula, Martine, Lorna, Karyn, Rachel, Jenny, Emma, Fiona |
I was so excited as I had only met three people from run for fun and not all at the same time. I only knew what people looked like from photos on Facebook. The meal was organized by Martine and we were to meet at La Strada restaurant at 5.45pm. I managed to get some good parking again (I'm getting quite good at this parking malarky) and we made our way down to the finish line for the 10k race that had started at 4pm. Looking around for the gang I spotted a tall blonde lady wearing a bright orange hoody on with Ultra Girl written on the back then spotted more ladies with the famous Ruffus hoodys on. I had found Maureen and the gang! It was so lovely to meet everyone and finally put faces to names of people who I interact with on a daily basis and also have so much in common with... finally I had found people that talk about running just as much as I do.
The evening was spent celebrating some of the ladies 10k results and some pbs and discussing what our aims were for the following days races. A few of the group were doing the full marathon and the rest were doing the half. Martine and co had already shown us how fantastic the medal and t shirts were. After carb loading on pasta we then left for an early night as the alarm was set for 5.45am to set off for the car park at 6.15am. Waking up after a terrible few hours sleep I forced down a few mouthfuls of cornflakes and a half moldy banana. The nerves were kicking in, I was unsure how my leg would hold out after not running or doing any exercise for 15 days prior to the race due to a hamstring strain. I was hoping for a pb as it was a flat course but was a 2:08 or less possible? Mom and I arrived at the car park at around 6.45 and were glad we got there so early as it was already filling up with cars queuing to get in after us. A quick sort out of bags and mom making sure she had her thermos flask for coffee and we were ready to make our way to the starting pens. I was in green which I originally thought was second from the front...first time ever I've been second from the front with an estimated finish time of 2 hours - 2 hours 15. But no, it turns out I was second from the back! We found Fiona and Lorna but couldn't see Mo or Paula. I got in my green starting pen, I got chatting to a lady who was 58 and running her first half marathon we chatted for a while and I made my way to the right hand side of the pen so mom could see me as I went over the line. A short countdown ensued then we were off to a small jog then stopped again, jogged a bit then stopped again then we were off properly running. The route started off taking us through the streets with the shops and the sun was glaringly bright! As we had set off when it was dark I hadn't got my sunglasses and had to hold my hand up to my head to see where I was going. I kept a good pace going for the first mile at 10.14 minute miles and was feeling good it was slightly congested and I had to weave my way around other runners and soon picked up the pace for the next 2 miles at 9.24 minute miles. Heading out of the shopping area we then ran along a housing estate and came out along the beach, it was absolutely stunning views all you could see was the sea for miles. At this point my music decided to start playing up so I went to get my phone out of my pocket to change it and ended up dropping the blasted thing, I was wary of not tripping up the runners behind me so tried to pick it up whilst looking over my shoulder and ended up kicking it away from me all the way down the road! It stopped near the side of the road so I could stop and collect it and luckily it got away with a couple of dents around the side but the screen was intact. Woopsie! The route took us a mile or so along the beach then we would turn around and come back on ourselves. My motivational song came on and I was running gazing out at the sea feeling like I was on holiday. I managed another few fast miles of 9.26 and 9.12 then we headed down towards the beach so we were running just along the sand. By mile 5 my bad leg with the hamstring issue felt fine. I had noticed though that there was something jiggling around in between my toes in my sock but decided to keep running as it wasn't painful more annoying if anything. We came to the Boscombe Pier where mom and I had spent the day before and I could see runners running around it. I was looking forward to this bit but then I got diverted off to a shady path..hang on shouldn't I be running around the pier with everyone else? I continued up the shady path and came across a hill.. I decided not to risk more injury and walked it and I didn't recognize any of the runners around me anymore.. I did think I had taken a wrong turn somewhere and I should be running on the pier but carried on and tried to figure out what was going on in my head. After the hill I tootled along and at mile 8 I started to get cramp in my glutes they kept seizing up and I had slowed down now to 10.36 minute miles again but still felt ok. At mile 9 there was an awesome downhill part with lots of support and crowds cheering and I could hear the dj at the finish line cheering people through the finish, I couldn't be this close to the finish at 9 miles surely.. no I wasn't. I got within quarter of a mile to the finish line I could see people running around this pier but then got diverted off to the left and had to run 2 miles back along the beach going the way I had just ran. It was nice as I was along the sea again and there were loads of people clapping and cheering, it was a long old run though made worse by the fact that there were runners coming the opposite way. I finally figured out that I had to run ALLLLL the way back to the first pier at Boscome beach to run around it then come ALLLLL the way back again to where I had just been... so basically I had ran from Boscome to the finish back to Boscome then back to the finish again! Around half a mile from Boscombe pier I was hobbling, my glutes were really tight everything was hurting, I had a few walking breaks, ran around the pier then it was the straight back towards the finish. It took forever...literally. I came to mile 12 and was now running 12 minute miles so had slowed considerably but it was very hot by this point. I passed Lorna running the other way and gave her a big shout out and kept my eye out for Paula who I saw a few minutes later then I was nearly at the Pier at the finish. I was directed to run around it which was going well until I ran past a man who had collapsed and was receiving medical treatment this made me well up and I walked the first part of the pier then got a jog on for the final bit. The crowds were huge at the finish..
I came down the finishing straight and decided I had a sprint finish in me so went for it. I crossed the line at 2 hours 17 minutes which is average for me and only 7 minutes slower than my pb so was really pleased. I collected my t shirt and medal.. which may I say is the most amazing medal ever!!! I met up with mom and she congralutated me on my run, turns out she had a really good spot to take this finishing picture and even had a bop to Up Town Girl played by the dj! I was hurting all over and very tired and still had a three hour journey back home to contend with but I was so happy that my mom was there to share the experience with me. I told her I had something in my sock the whole run and she suggested I take my trainer off but I just wanted to get home by that point. Upon arriving back home I took my trainer off to find a blood soaked sock, I took the blood soaked sock off to find this! What on earth had I ran with in my sock
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| Cornflake inury |
for 13.1 miles?? Well... it was a cornflake! Yes that's right a cornflake. Don't ask because I really don't know.
Bournemouth half marathon was the best for many reasons, one my amazing mom came and supported me, two I got to meet so many fantastic like minded inspiring people and three I ran a half marathon with a hamstring injury and a cornflake in my sock and still came in with a good finishing time. I finished in overall
position: 1699 of 2857.
