Brighton Half Marathon

So, my second half-marathon in a week - the Brighton Half Marathon. This couldn't be more different from the race I did in Dover last week - this time I ate plenty of pasta in advance, and I remembered to wear my running shoes. There were also considerably more runners - around 5,000.

Although I don't live far from Brighton, we still had to get up early as the race started early - 9:45am! We only got there just in time to stow our bags and find our starting point. While we waited for the starter's gun, there were still lots of other runners still arriving or queueing for toilets. I don't know why the race started so early - I can only assume that was the only way the organisers could get the council to agree to close so many roads in the city.

This was the second time I'd run this race - I did it in 2006 as a qualifier for the Snowdon Race. The course has changed a bit since my previous outing - it no longer goes so far East over the cliffs, but instead it has a longer city section in downtown Brighton. Once it's out the winding streets, the course goes along the seafront for a few miles, then turns round and comes back for even more miles. Then it goes up some hills.

I didn't enjoy this race as much as I had Dover, but I'm glad I did it. Even though there were "only" 5,000 runners, it was the biggest race I'd ever run. In London there will by closer to 40,000, so I need to make sure I get as close as possible to the front at the start.

My finishing time was slightly faster than Dover, but still just over 1hr 30mins, so I, thankfully, don't have to try to run the full marathon in under 3 hours.