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| Birkenhead’s own Brandenburg gate which we ran through. |
Anyway, a dark, blustery and showery morning dawned and I
piled both a sleepy Gordon and a surprised Tolli into the car and drove to
Birkenhead which is not the most pleasant of places.
However, the race was due
to start in the Park; a leafy suburb of
Birkenhead and much to Tolli’s delight, was full of squirrels. So as I warmed
up, Tolli, ran herself ragged chasing the little critters. Think she may have
run her own half marathon whilst waiting for mine to start!
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Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as sunny as this on Sunday.
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Gordon was in support role and was picking me up at the end
to then go on to run another 7 miles! When the gun went off, just under 3000
runners ran around the out-skirts of the park and as I was passing a clump of
trees, I glimpsed Tolli straining on the lead to join us!
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A driftwood pirate ship momentarily distracted me…fab.
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Unfortunately, as soon as we hit the promenade, the head wind
hit us. So using one of Gordon’s strategies (he’s a sneaky bugger), I tucked in
behind other runners and if they weren’t going at my pace, I joined another
group. This strategy was to come in useful throughout the race as the route
hugged the coast all the way and no matter which direction we ran, there
appeared to be a head-wind?! But runners and spectators alike stayed in good
spirits and as the Liver Birds where left behind, New Brighton came into view at
about the 6 mile mark where the 10k runners left us and made their way to the
finish line that could be clearly seen by us half marathoners, but we were not
to meet for another 7 miles.
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King’s Parade, New Brighton. We zig-zagged along here 5 times!
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As the MC announced the 10k finishers and we could hear the
cheering, we continued along the front towards Perch Rock lighthouse. The wind was getting stronger and the clouds
were looking more ominous. Although New Brighton has had and is having a face
lift, it wasn’t looking its best on this dull day, but a job had to be done and
the crowds were tremendous in their support.
As I approached the 10 mile point, the Cross Bay Challenge
came to mind as we went down onto the beach for about half a mile. Passing a
Harvester restaurant, memories came flooding back that it used to be an outside
swimming pool and where I remembered going with my sister and grand-parents and
being absolutely freezing…not much different from today then!
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Gordon says I had a bounce in my step and a smile on my face; the best
finish ever!
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Finally, it was time to turn tail and head back towards Kings
Parade and the finish. The wind slapped us in our faces again and the rain came
in horizontally. There was not much liverpudlian humour now as we had our heads
down against the elements. Once back on Kings Parade, snatches of the MC’s
commentary came over the wind and we zig-zagged our way ever closer to the
finish line. All this to and froing was slightly disheartening but then it
dawned on me that it was good practise for the De Ja Vue marathon, so I
embraced it as good training!!
Gordon and Tolli eventually found their way to New Brighton
(apparently he got confused with the M53. How does he manage to fly himself to
the States?) and were there to cheer me home (again).
As I was using this as a training run for the 3rd
Nov, I knew that I wouldn’t get a PB so was happy to come in at 1:57:40; 5th
in category on gun time but 3rd on chip time! Gosh if only I had
gone another minute or two faster, I would have got 2nd!
With medal, T-shirts, bottle of water and banana in hand, I
met up with the gang, dashed off to the car (?!), put on a dry top, donned my
camel-back and then all three of us set off for the beach again to cover the
extra 7 miles that I had to do to get my 20 miler in.
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Not sure why I was grinning so much as we still had another few miles to
do!
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As always, the Liverpool runs are exceptionally well run,
popular and very well supported. The crowds are enthusiastic and humorous and
always bring a smile to my face. The route was safe and between mile 2 and 6
lovely along the promenade with Liverpool in all its glory on the other side of
the Mersey. The sea defences up at New Brighton are concrete monsters but were
rather useful to run behind, hiding from the onshore gale.
Would I run it again…not if it clashes with our run again. I
did miss being at our fab 10k!
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