After 2 marathons earlier in the year, which didn’t go too well, I booked in Bournemouth as something to work towards and to keep me running. Summer holidays, sun and good food and drink probably not the ideal training!! I stayed with friends Saturday evening, wasn’t jealous at all when Dominoes knocked on the door and I sat with my tomato pasta! Up early Sunday as was worried about the traffic. None to be seen on the way in so arrived mega early. It was really really cold and I refused to leave the comfort of the heated seat in the car until the very last minute!! I rang fellow SJ Claire Rowse and met her as she arrived. We did the obligatory queue for the ladies, dropped bags and went straight to the pens.
Race started and all felt a little cramped at the start but soon evened out. The sun came out and actually it turned out to be a glorious day. I did laugh at some poor runner who had clearly decided that the thermal top needed to go but got it stuck on his head… I’d be interested to see how many minutes this added to his time!! Great run up to mile 12, the miles just seemed to come and go, passed Claire a couple of times way up ahead of me going the other way. Small hill and then from there it seemed to really get tough. On my last marathons cramp set in at about mile 18 so was conscious the closer I got to the distance.
Also to the organisers – I must say how very mean to have to run over the finish line at mile 17 alongside someone much faster than you finishing! I could feel the legs getting tighter so a few stops for stretches. Along the sea front was glorious, a shout out from fellow SJ Jim Laidlaw kept me moving.. the last 6 definitely felt like the hardest ones and felt like they were never going to end. Waiting for the turn to head back was really hard on the mind for sure … I knew I was running a good time for me and found it hard not to keep clock watching but could see the time ticking away!! Over the finish line, 6 minutes better than my PB set 2 years earlier so although I’m not quite there yet, it’s a good step in the right direction towards my target! I would definitely recommend it as a race to do .. amazing views doing what we all love best!