Sunday 5 July 2015

Tour of Merseyside - Race #1 Southport Half

Image owned by Mark-Humphreys Green



A year ago I followed the post of this crazy bunch of people on facebook doing this tour thingy, some crazy challenge where you do 6 races in 7 days for a total of 52 miles.  They were all seriously nuts, like certifiable, it looked like so much fun and they all ended up like this massive family.  The runners who finished last were celebrated just as much as the ones who came first and they even organised an extra race for a runner who got injured in the last mile of the last race.  I signed up for the next year as soon as it opened.   The first race, Vital Events Southport half marathon. Today, whilst pinning the 'Tourist' bib to the back of my vest my hands were literally shaking because it finally hit me that I was doing this.  


The pre-race stuff was a lot of fun.  I got to see lots of people I know and meet some new people.  The park is a great location for the start of a race I think, there was a serious amount of toilets (runners are obsessed with toilets), the commentator was hilarious and it's a very pretty park.  BTR section us all off and do a really great job of looking after us all, they even gave us an awesome bouncer (Keith you need a black tie and an ear piece next time).  A very big thank you to everyone, especially Erika who had to deal with all the rabble and then run herself.


Tourists before the first race.  Image owned by Rachel Fredrickson Craig 
Just before I start going into detail I should explain that I've been suffering with a shin issue for a few weeks.  Well a few months really but ignored it for quite a while. It's in my right leg anyway which has less sensation (and movement) than my left (I have to change me prominent leg when I got ill) and so it was just a dull ache for a long time.  After Liverpool RnR it started hurting A LOT even when I walked and so I ended up having to rest for a few weeks.  My first run back was Colin Potter 10k on Friday and it didn't hurt at all so I was feeling optimistic.  Today I was running with the famous old man Stan and the lovely Adele but had to stop to sort my laces out (Someday I will learn to tie them before the start of the race!!) and when I pushed it a little to catch up the shin pain started coming back so I had to slow down.  I had to keep just plod the entire race but it meant that I got to pay attention to the people around me which the course is really good for.


Southport Half Route
The race starts in Victoria Park.  You do quite a big loop before you leave the park and it did get a bit congested at the start.  We were walking for almost a minute at one point.  After the park we went down a very very very very very very very very very long and winding road with nothing but miles and miles and miles of sand dunes.  When we got to the end, we turned round and came back.  It was almost completely soul destroying, almost.  The thing that saved it was that it was an out and back, after a while the faster runners started going past and so you got to cheer on everyone you knew (I know a lot more people than I realised) and any other tourists and they shouted support back.   I cheered on some random non-tourists too because I felt bad only cheering for tourists.  I spoke to 37 random people and Chris (best pacer ever) during the race.  I taught people my new sweat band trick (If you soak it in cold water and put it on your wrist it helps to keep you cool.  You can then use is to wipe across your forehead, lips and other wrist when you get really hot), answered lots of questions about "What's a tourist" and had a great time.  It was a very hot humid day but the water stations were great and just where we needed them.  I poured four bottles over my head so I finished looking like a drowned rat.


Southport Half Elevation
Vital Events Southport Half Medal
BTR Tour of Merseyside Goody Bag
As much as I don't like the first half of the course, I love the second bit. For a start we still had runners going past us, it was great seeing so many Tourists leading the race and all looking strong plus we were running next to the sea.  I can't not be happy when I'm running next to the sea, it was so pretty and there were lots of things to see.  I really loved running around the big lake too.  I've only been to Southport twice (To do Mad Dog 10k) and so a lot of the things were new so I really enjoyed the last stretch and knew that I was going to run the whole thing and not walk (which is all I wanted really). I was getting quite enthusiastic and so in the last few miles I started trying to getting any walkers running (especially if they only had a few more miles to do, we had another 41 so no excuse.  I did guilt a few people into running but a few said thanks to me after which was nice).  Some people started walking about the last loop in the park and there was a few moans about having to go round one last time but I loved that bit and even managed to pick up some speed and do a sprint finish.  I love the medal, which we got because BTR paid for us to have them.  The t-shirt was nice to but I was OK with not getting one (Although Tony from Road Runners is going to give me his which is very nice.  I have to say that Dan from Road Runners offered me his medal because he thought we didn't get one, how nice was that!!  Lovely man!!).  We got a special BTR goody bag too which was a really nice suprise because I wasn't expecting one.


Image owned by BTR
The support on the course was amazing.  A lot of people came to watch and they were all cheering, even in random places.  The tourists who weren't running were amazing (It must have been hard to watch and not take part so thank you) and what is a race without a WRC cheering squad who were amazing and kept popping up everywhere.  They made the race a lot more enjoyable and really kept me going.  I'm pretty sure that this is my one and only tour so I'll have to go back and do Southport Half on it's own next year and cheer on all the tourists.  As long as you remember how nice the second half of the course is I don't think it's a bad race and the people (running and not running) make it into something very memorable.  I finished in 2:13:30 gun time (chip time was slightly less but the tour is done on gun time) so I'm pretty happy with that.  I was aiming for 2:10 before the leg started giving me issues and I'm still around my overall target (I would like a combined time of around 8 and a half hours but as long as I cross six finish lines I'm not that fussed about time).

Back at the BTR tent there was hugs and well dones, I think a lot of people found it quite tough but day one was done.  As David Walsh pointed out later, we're already 25% done!! Tourists dominated the race too, both the overall winner (Anthony) and the first lady (Jennifer) were tourists and no Tourists came last either. 285 tourists started and finished (3 are missing off the results) and just under one in 3 runners was a tourist (30% of all finishers).

Next Race: Tomorrow we have the 5.9 mile Thurstaston Multi Terrain.  This is on the one I have been dreading most but it's off-road which can make me ill.  Just going to take it nice an easy.  I did want to try to run the whole tour but I've just seen the elevation for the race including the massive hill from mile 3 to 4 (literally a mile long), I may need my mini mouse skirt to get through it.  I'm trying to do the whole tour in a skirt (not the same skirt obviously cos the would be gross)

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