The Delightful Downton Half

When you're stumbling about at 09:20 with one eye that won't open properly, tripping over empty wine bottles and searching for your trainers before a 10am race, it probably won't be a personal best sort of day. However, after a raucous 30th birthday celebration and failed "few drinks and move on to water" strategy, I was happy enough just to make it to the start line.

This was my fourth outing to the Downton Half marathon; it's a brilliantly challenging course with some lovely big hills. Race New Forest are a fabulous group of people who run great series of events but I think this is my favourite. There are just the right amount of people racing, spectacular views of the New Forest and always plenty of friendly faces.

Alice Holt Parkrun & The Gosport Half Marathon

Support Crew Extraordinaire

I haven't done too much since the summer of bicycle accident madness, but I've been ticking away at the running and have bizarrely found myself keeping a fairly decent level of fitness whilst doing very little. Gosport Half Marathon had been on my radar all year for an attempt at a fast (for me) half and in the last few weeks, I started to believe I might be able to do it.

A bit foggy..

The weekend started with a warm up at an extremely foggy Alice Holt parkrun. My ever-prepared sister was an amazing one-man support crew all weekend and as a result, at any time I could have had any type of layering system, a selection of shoes, snacks and hot beverages in a range of flasks. We had unwittingly timed out visit to Alice Holt on their birthday, which meant there was a higher-than-normal amount of fluorescent clothing and lit-up parkrunners on display. It also meant there was plenty of cake, always a bonus.