Fleetwood Half Marathon

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Graeme Walton

I entered this half marathon as part of my training for Liverpool Marathon in October. Having read some reviews from previous years and checked out the course profile it appeared to be nice and flat which was what I was looking for. A nice early start for the journey following a 5:30am alarm call! I was on the road for 6am with my wife and little girl for support. I had anticipated the journey would take around two and a half hours so with a race start time of 10am time was on our side. After a very pleasant drive we arrived at race headquarters at 8:30am. I went into the local sports centre to collect my race number and then we found time to take a stroll along the beach.

As race time approached we headed back to the car park to pin on my number and I also tried to eat a sports bar, of which I only managed half (its like trying to chew through plasticine!). Then it was off for a pre-race toilet stop which was tricky as there were only seven toilets for 400 runners! Following a briefing we were off and running. As normal following a glance at my garmin my pace slightly to fast over the opening few hundred metres so I eased off slightly and began to settle into a nice rhythm. I was hoping to average 7:30 per mile yet as the race moved on everytime I checked my pace I was a little ahead of schedule. We left the seafront where the race had started and headed down a road that ran parallel with the sea. For the first 6 miles I felt quite comfortable however things were about to change. At the 6 mile point the route changed direction and we were now running on a path that hugged the seafront. Whilst it was beautiful to look at unfortunately it was into quite a strong headwind. This lasted a painful three miles until we turned and headed for home. It was now wind-assisted but I was starting to feel tired now. The last part of the race was flat thankfully. I was overjoyed to see the 13 mile marker and following a bit of a sprint finish I was chuffed to set a time of 1:35:07 which was a new PB.

A very flat course for anyone who fancies a ride out for a PB. Three water stations are spead equally around the course and the marshals were great. A medal, banana and a wagon wheel was a poor reward for £17 (I wasn’t a Strider when I entered) however I would certainly recomend the race.

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