Myself, Paul Nicholls, Gordon Hutchins and Cheryl Hutchins ran the Liverpool Half Marathon on Sunday 18th
March 2012. The traffic was surprisingly clear for a big city Marathon
and there were plenty of parking spaces available that are literally
only a few minutes from the start for a fiver.
 |
| All smiles before the race |
I
had been warned by Perry Wyatt, who ran the race last year with Paul,
to get a good
starting position as the race becomes congested through
narrow lanes in some early parts of the race. I did so, and as an added
bonus got a close up of Kris Akabusi who was starting the race and
offering his, very enthusiastic and amusing style of encouragement to
the runners before the start.
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| Olympic silver medallist Kriss Akabusi |
The
first two miles are very well supported, and take runners uphill
through the city centre and past the Cathedral. Miles two to nine are
lightly undulating and are very green taking runners through Princes
Park, Sefton Park and Otterspool Park. Only a small stretch of this
section is on roads making it easy to forget I was actually running a
city marathon. I passed the 10km point in Sefton Park at 43:12 and I
felt strong.
 |
| Gordon |
The
last four miles are all by the River Mersey via the Otterspool
Promenade, Atlantic Way and Kings Parade. Whilst this section is
flatter, it is also a lot windier. Nothing could have prepared me for
the unsheltered headwind that relentlessly batters you during this
section of the race. On top, the weather was sunny and whilst the Parks
provided a welcome shelter, there was no escape from the sun during this
section. I tried to slipstream behind a few runners but really
struggled, although I don’t recall a lot of people overtaking me so I
guess I wasn’t alone. Still, the strength in my legs had gone as I went
from sub 7 minute miles, to 7:30’s to near 8 minute miles. I finished in
1:32:15. I narrowly missed out on my PB by just 7 seconds, but it was my
second fastest Half Marathon and I’ll take plenty of positives from it
to the Chester Half Marathon in May.
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| Paul N |
After
finishing, I found a spot to cheer Paul on for his last 200 metres.
Although, Paul was disappointed to get a chip time of 2:01:24, he had
still improved 3 minutes on his time from last year and without aiming
to, beating his 10K PB by the time he got to the 10K checkpoint. He was
great company for the day and I’m sure he’ll get back down to the times
he wants. It’s amazing how far the recently awarded “most improved
Strider” has already come in the past fifteen months. I didn’t actually
get chance to congratulate Gordon and Cheryl although I’ve seen from the
results that they both finished in good times so well done for battling
though those headwinds!!
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| Paul B |
I’d
recommend this race as it’s not far to travel, the support is great,
you get a nice medal and a good quality technical running shirt. The
race has almost doubled in entries over the past three years and it’s
easy to see why. I need to remember if I run this again though, I must
leave some energy in the tank for those last four miles!! Also, there is
only water available at the drink stations and therefore it is well
worth getting some carb gels which I, naively, didn’t have.
Paul Barnett
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