Reflections

Never say never, but I can't see me going back to run Brighton again!

By far the best response to the news that I had joined the Half Marathon Club came from my Twitter friend Marathon Man - which quite simply said "Good Job - now BLOG!" So nice to know that I've been missed and that my running is only part of what this is all about!

Busy day today then trying to catch up on my blog and the washing and the ironing, but enough time whilst walking the dogs to reflect on Brighton.

As a race I didn't like it much! It was a strange course, one mile loop in the city centre, followed by a six mile loop out away from the town along the coast road, past the marina and beyond before heading back into town and then out on a second six mile loop to Hove and back.

The sections in the town were great, lots of support to keep you going, the ends of each loop were a bit soul destroying! Especially as the roads were relatively straight and you could see from the runners in front of you how far you had to go before you got to turn around, and twice you got a view of the pier from three miles away knowing you had to run all the way back to it!

The beach huts at Hove which I had such romantic notions about were in reality rather depressing being mainly deserted as the wind whipped in off the sea, and with hindsight I'm very glad I didn't stop to buy a little beach hut ornament on Saturday. I'd been regretting it right from the point where I didn't stop to have a proper look at them until I saw them for real! Somethings are clearly better left in your imagination, and not experienced after running ten miles!

As for my own performance, whilst I'm pleased with how well I did, I can't help but be disappointed that my legs aren't as fit as I'd like them to be, and I'm not going to achieve my goal of a sub twenty six minute parkrun in the next couple of weeks, for the simple reason that I can't run on them!  I think I need to give myself a couple of weeks off running again to give my poor feet and legs time to recover - but I've checked with the Biomechanics Man and disappointingly I am allowed to go back to the gym!

M - 441

Liverpool Half - 110

Glasgow Half - 222  
Total Distance covered   503.2 miles