Blog ≫ 2019 ≫ Hey Hey 16k
I did the Great South Run then! I did it in 1:29:06 and pleased with that.
I got away from work sharply at half three on Friday, Clare had picked the boys up and we headed off to Portchester. Fairly miserable drive in the drizzle with it starting to get dark. Very slow past Guildford, this was absolute rush hour. Finally got to Mum and Dad's and had delicious pizza and chips. Perfect training food. Fairly early to bed and still not drinking.
Saturday morning I was awake in good time so decided at the last minute to do Fareham parkrun as a little warm up for the big event. I planned to just take it easy, and did start off that way. Then I realised there were soon only a dozen people in front of me and no-one close behind me, so I kept up that pace. Ended up in thirteenth place, just two seconds off my personal best1, and could so easily have beaten it, gah. Even in Folkestone this week I would have been 17th with that time. Maybe running there as a warm up for the warm up helped, or maybe the "energy gel" that I had before the run did some magic. I planned to have one for the Great South Run and they say "don't do anything on the you've not done before" so needed to give that a try.
Nice relaxing day after that, went to a cubs jumble sale and bought two skateboards. They're the same as the one thing one bought, except these are more flexible and turn properly. Super bargain too. I made pasta for tea, more or less arrabiata, very nice. Carb loading, see.
Sunday morning I got more nervous. Decided to head into Southsea earlier than originally planned and got the train about eight fifteen. Lots of other runners on the train, and the good atmosphere continued throughout the day. Went in a nice cafe at Portsmouth and Southsea station, though not sure I should have had any more liquid. Had a look round, sampling the free food on some of the stalls, breaking the "don't eat anything today you've not eaten before" rule. Was late to the start line and so didn't actually see the celebrity starters; Radzi from Blue Peter, Jet from Gladiators, and Timmy Mallet. Being late to the start didn't really hurt as the timing is all done with remote sensors and a chip attached to my run number, but it did feel like a very slow start, almost tripping over other people.
The run itself was easy! The weather was perfect for it, none of the threatened rain, no wind, and bright and sunny. The miles flew by, there was so much interesting stuff to see along the way that really broke it up. There was official entertainment, a military band, some drummers and so on, and then some of the houses along the route also had sound systems out. People were outside the pubs, and there were so many locals cheering everyone on. I though Mum and Dad and the boys had missed me at our arranged "this is where you cheer me on" point and was just texting them to say "you missed me" but then saw them. Dad got a good picture and I high-fived the boys on the way past.
We tried to go to Nandos for lunch after the race, but so did everyone else, so they were queued out of the door. We went to Wagamama instead and it was lovely.
Had a lazy start to Monday (I had the day off), then I drove back, leaving the boys behind! We are going to miss them, Clare especially has not been without them for this length of time. I at least see them both weekends, she won't get them back until Sunday night.
I tried to sign up for next year's event, but missed the early bird place.
(It was thing one who came up with the headline, he said "is that why you have the Hey Hey 16k2 badge?" - 16km being 10 miles).
- Removed old parkrun.org.uk/fareham/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=190 link here.
- Removed old youtube.com/watch?v=Ts96J7HhO28 link here.