Sunday April 1st - No Tricks, But You Still Might Call Me A Fool

No time for pranks today - 10am signalled the start of the Bournemouth Bay Run: 13.1 miles of pleasure along the seafront at Bournemouth. I've been well over this distance afew times in the last month but I decied to 'go for a time' (i.e. do it as quick as I could, not just get round comfortably) so I was still a bit apprehensive about it.

But before the 'me, me, me' bit I'd like to share a few observations with you from the race. I honetsly think there is a book in what I saw today. Anyway, in no particular order:

Some people get really excited at the start and start out much, much quicker than they really should. If like me you are trying to pace yourself it can be a bit difficult not to get caught up in it all. Its especially difficult when you see people who are clearly not prepared for 13 miles of running.

An example, a young woman went tearing past me about 500 metres after the start. About 0.5 miles into the race there wasa bit of a hill up fromthe seafront. The same young woman was walking by then. She's set out to run 13.1 miles and is walking after 0.5. Now that's preparaion for you. I saw her cross the finish line 2hours 40minutes after the start. Well, at least she finished.

So there are those people and there are others who are truly inspiring. There were a few wheelchair athletes and a couple of them had some pretty impressive wheels - full on racing types. Then there was another guy who just had a plain old bog standard NHS wheelchair. On the same hill just after tha start he was chatting to everyone as they went past him and he went aout trying to get to the top - backwards! Someone even asked him if they could have a lift!?!?!

There were a few runs today - the half marathon, a 10k, a 5k and a kids 1k - and a sI was waiting around for my FREE postrace massage the PA for the event commented that there was a group of runners just finishing the 5k race who looked liek a family. Turns out it was a family, all wearing 'Running for Callum' T-Shirts in memory of a son/grrandson who had died of leaukemia earlier this year, aged just 18 months. Humbling.

There was another guy who was the last person I saw finish after about 2hours 45minutes. Not very quick, I hear you say. Maybe true, but not half bad for an 80 year old. He crossed the line and stumbled towards a rockery/bush and proceeded to literally fall into it and just lie down. He was pretty tired, fair enough, but I wasn't the only one who had a littel check to make sure he was still breathing. But he was fine and after a few minutes recovery he was off with his wife. Being alive at 80 is a godo enough achievement: running half marathons is just showing off!

I also learned that when there is a sign marked 'drinks for runners' and they give you soaked sponges what the sign actually means is 'sponges for runners which should cetainly not be squeezed for drinking as they contain river water'. Because they did contain what tasted like river water and Iknow because I squeezed a few in my mouth and was very nearly sick. Not. Nice.

Anyway, as for me, it went OK. Got my pacing completely wrong and was far too fast in places and struggling at the end, but I did hit my target time pretty much bang on (1hour 50 minutes). It bodes well for the marathon in 3 weeks. 3 WEEKS!!!!

So that was my Sunday morning. What did you do?

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