Day 9 - Southend Half

I

I had been looking forward to this race for a long time as I have been really trying to run faster lately and apart from the occasional (ok, not so occasional!) worry I felt fairly confident I could get a PB. My fastest had still been the Great North Run at 2:29 as I had been injured when doing the next two halves so they had got slower!  I really hoped to run 2:20 but thought that may be too optimistic as I wasn't sure how my foot would hold up so decided that I'd be happy with 2:24, a 5 minute improvement. Especially as I had run every day this month so far covering 26 miles!

Despite an early night I didn't sleep well but it was nice to wake up knowing it was just a half mile walk to the start.  I had planned to eat breakfast, something I've never really managed before a race due to lots of travelling, sorting children and rushing around but I just couldn't face it in the end so had my usual pre race 2 nutrigrain bars!

I walked along to the beach, arriving around 9:15.  I'd planned to get there a bit earlier but instead of the forecast lovely weather it was windy, cold and drizzling. I met up with Lisa and Stacey and we had a wander around for a bit then I saw Carla (@fortnightflo) and Alma (@plustenner) -

I wasn't going to post that photo as I look terrible but always lovely to meet new Twitter friends so I will :-)

Headed up to our arranged meeting point with Lisa and Stacey and found Sam, Andy, Richard, Lloyd, Justin and his friend. There was a really nice atmosphere at the beach, as before most races I've done actually, but this was more fun I think as there were so many people that we all knew to chat to. Stacey and Lisa went to check their bags in and that was the last we saw of them! We were planning to meet a few others that we hadn't seen so were hoping that they all found each other.

The race was delayed for about 15 minutes and it was so cold that about 2 minutes after me telling Sam that I couldn't run before the race like lots of people were doing as I'd get tired  .... We joined them and ran for a bit before heading to the start.

Go!

The guys sped off, leaving me and Sam to stick to our far slower planned pace of around 10:40 which would get us both the PBs we were hoping for.

After leaving the beach, we headed into the Garrison past the school and round the cricket pitch. It was very strange running with so many people in the area I have run most days this month. There were quite a few supporters in this area plus the obligatory Rocky theme blaring out from one of the flats!

From here, we headed out onto the seafront where the route was down to the sea life centre, back up to the entrance to Gunners Park, down to the sea life centre again and then up to Maplin Way. 

I wasn't looking forward to it to be honest, laps are a bit boring anyway and I suspected that being a road I run a lot may make it worse but I actually found it a lot better than I expected.

Just as we got onto the seafront we saw my Mum cheering us on and taking some   (probably/hopefully out of focus) photos and actually, one of my favourite things about today was the support. Being such a local run, there were a lot of people I knew on the route, mostly due to the magnificence that is parkrun. Even when I was in a bit of a world of my own and didn't spot people, there's nothing like hearing someone shouting your name to give you a bit of a boost. Thank you so much supporters!

     (Around mile 7, photo by @noynek)

I remember Sam commenting on getting neck ache at one point but I liked the lapped course as there was plenty of opportunity to see our friends coming back the other way.  I saw Lisa speeding back towards us, Claire who we missed at the start just behind her, found out that everyone had started Ok, Stacey was just in front of us, and that the guys were looking good.  

I'm glad Sam wanted to run with me, we seemed to comfortably run at our target pace together and having someone to chat to definitely helped me along.  The aim was 10:40 pace which we stuck to pretty well, mostly steady but every now and then we had a slower few seconds at a water station or a quick sprint to wake ourselves up a bit.

Day 9 - Southend Half by Fizziebeth at Garmin Connect - Details

The course was very flat with the only real incline being up from the seafront to Church Road at mile 11,we sprinted most of it (this isn't that impressive, it's pretty small!) but couldn't quite go fast to the top.  Just after this point, Sam was struggling more and about halfway along Church Road she couldn't quite manage the pace I was at.  I feel a bit guilty leaving her behind but although my legs were tiring and my foot was getting more painful I was still feeling pretty good (good for having run 11 miles faster than ever before, that is) and was getting a bit stressed about how much I could slow down and still PB.  As you can see from the Garmin info, I sped up, just in case!  From the end of Church Road we headed down back into Gunners Park. I passed Rob from Bosh here which was nice after he spotted my sweatband, he said that I looked like I was running well (or something like that, it gave me confidence though that I didn't look as bad as I felt!)

Coming around the sea wall we ran half of the parkrun course. The part that's always ridiculously windy, obviously.  I caught up with Stacey here and we ran for a little bit, I remember promising her she would be finished in ten minutes.

On yes, one more slight hill back up towards the beach but a more gradual one this time.  At the top here I was really pleased to see Nathan telling me I was nearly there then saw Alex, Rachael and Noah.  We knew they'd been at the start and had looked out all round - I've never been so glad to see them, I needed that encouragement! By now I was tired and my foot was really sore and I had hit the point of total confusion.  I do this every race, I should know by now but the change of signs into metres really throws me. I run here several times a week, I knew it wasn't far to the end but there was a strange conversation as I ran past of Rachael saying 600 metres and me stressing, asking if I could make it in 6 minutes. 

I could and I did!  That 2:20 I was optimistically hoping for .....  Became an official finish time of 2:17:23 :-)

Still cannot believe it! Saw Keith and Olivia at the end then collected my medal and caught up with as many people as I could. Sam and Stacey were only a few minutes behind me, Stacey finishing her first half and Sam achieving her PB!

My lovely friends Cassie and Simon came to meet me and brought a card and presents.  I'm very lucky to have such great friends so one last picture, me and some of them:

               Well done everyone! 

Today - 13.1

Total so far - 39