Brighton Half Marathon race recap – the most incredible race of my life

*EDIT: The Brighton Half official page have an announcement written on the site that the course was long! So my time worked out as 1hour39 and 4seconds. We knew it was too long!!

Wheeee!!! On Sunday, I ran Brighton Half Marathon, and I smashed my PB and it was incredibly hard and it was awesome and I cried a lot [from happiness] at the finish and I wonder how many more ‘and’s I can fit into this sentence….

My mum and I drove up Saturday morning, which took three hours, and we arrived just after lunch time. Brighton was not feeling particularly cheery though…in fact, it was downright miserable! It was absolutely freezing, raining hard, and there was a really strong coastal wind. Ideal. My mum and I really wanted to scope out the start line though, so we donned our thick coats, grabbed our umbrellas, and ventured out…

Our hotel – a dated, cheap little place – was right by the seafront, and a 15minute walk from the start, which was pretty perfect. After we’d worked out where we would be going, we decided to do the tourist thang, and go visit the big Brighton wheel! It’s like the London Eye, except smaller, so small you can’t even stand up in the capsules.

Pretty decent views, but the wind was making the whole thing sway a little bit, which gave my mum a serious case of vertigo:

She had to stay focused on the floor..so funny!

After four (!) spins on the wheel (we thought it would never end), we went to Brighton Pier – home of candy floss, fish and chips, beer, and a massive arcade/casino.

If I was a billionaire, I totally would’ve blown half of my fortune on the crappy games in that room…but alas, I am not. I just posed for a picture and dodged small, screaming children and nerdy teenage boys.

When we got back outside, we wanted to go get our future read by a tarot card reading stall, but then we realised we’d have to stand in line, outside, and so we scrapped that idea. Too friggin’ wet and windy! In fact, the weather just got worse and worse, and the walk back to the hotel was hell. My hands hurt from the cold, and the rain turned into hail, with a strong headwind. We were both drenched when we got back inside:

Note the wetness of my leggings. it. was. foul.

After we’d dried off a bit, it was time to venture out to dinner. Fellow Project 26.2-er Cathy had told me that Brighton is awesome for vegans, so after some googling and Happy-Cow-ing, we decided on Aloka, a cool vegan cafe, restaurant and ‘health and wellness shop’.

It certainly did not disappoint! In fact, it totally and utterly exceeded our expectations. I ordered a pear, fennel and something else juice, which I actually didn’t like very much, so I swapped it for their special Vitamin C Detox drink (apple, ginger, carrot etc), and that was DIVINE! We were then brought out a free / complimentary amuse bouche (have I spelt that right!?) – it was vegan and raw, and was a cracker-type base with a delicious walnut cream thing on top:

AMAZING! I wish I could remember exactly what was in it, because it was seriously fabulous. We ate it all

We also shared two starters:

Raw flax crackers and dip (coconut, carrot etc):

And the beetroot focaccia with chestnuts and globe artichoke – saute of globe artichokes, chestnuts, button mushrooms and sweet potato, served on a soft beetroot focaccia, with a miso onion butter and a shot of pineapple jerusalem artichoke cream

Um, wow. My mum dominated the shot, and I dominated the bread!

For main course, I had the Chef’s Special: tempeh and preserved lemon ‘pastilla’ served with a warm quinoa and kale salad, pomegranate glazed parsnip and a Medina spiced carrot cream

My mum had the Individual Baked Casserole: button mushroom and chestnut bourguignon ‘st germain’ shepherds pie, oven roasted grapes and a seasonal vegetable stir fry

Seriously, there are no words to describe how delicious the food was! It was incredible, one of the best meals I have ever had in my entire life! My mum absolutely adored it too, and it was so lovely to introduce her to such amazing vegan cuisine!

We had a lovely talk over the meal, made even better by the table next to us being four vegans running the half too!

—–

Race day dawned bright and sunny!

It was still freezing cold, and my mum and I both had an awful night of sleep (darn cheap lumpy bed), but I was pumped. The hotel’s breakfast selection was awful – Cornflakes and tinned mushrooms summed it up – but thankfully I’d brought some banana oats in a jar with me. It pays to be prepared!

I ate a mini Clif bar a half hour before the start whilst we were hanging around, and then: the race began.

In the pen: I was with Coach Phoebe and Keith (a Men’s Running Project 26.2-er), and I was absolutely freezing. I was shaking like a leaf!

Miles 1-3: I. felt. like. junk. My runs on Friday and Saturday were not good, and the first three miles felt the same. Phoebe and Keith seemed to be ahead of me by about 3m, which isn’t far, but they might as well have been a mile ahead. All I could think was ‘I can barely keep up with them, I’ve lost them already, I’ll never PB, moan moan moan’. I didn’t feel good!

Miles 3-8: Keith went ahead (he was aiming for 1hr35), Phoebe dropped back with me – and I found my stride! The course was undulating but I felt great, and we settled into a comfortable 7.30 pace. I kept missing the mile markers though..the Garmin would vibrate, but there were no mileage signs.

Miles 9-11: I finally clocked that whilst my Garmin read 9.4miles, we’d only just passed the 9 mile marker, and we were running at a 7.15 pace. Uh..say WHA-!? It was at that point that things started to get really, really tough. It just hit me like a hammer – I was breathing hard and had felt ok, but then suddenly I was so demoralized at being half a mile behind where I thought I was, so much so that I started to have a kind of panic attack! It started with me sobbing a bit – out of frustration and effort – but that totally blocked my breathing. I then started to panic because I couldn’t breathe, and Phoebe actually had to stop me! Yep, at mile 11, we stopped. Completely. Phoebe just told me to ‘BREATHE’, which I did, and 25 seconds later, we were away.

Mile 12-13: I can do this, I can do this, I can do this….

Mile 13.1: Holy heck, I’ve PR’d! 1hour38 and 30 seconds!

Mile 13.2: ‘WHERE’S THE F****** FINISH LINE!!??’ Yelled to Phoebe!

Mile 13.3: There it is!!!!!!

Mile 13.4: I sprinted the last bit…and…

Mile 13.51: I’VE FINISHED!

As soon as I’d stopped running, I burst into tears and Phoebe and I had a massive hug! I could not have done it without her and she was so incredible. As we walked back to the start, I downed a whole bottle of Lucozade (I’d barely drunk anything running), and went to find the VIP tent where the team were camped (heck yeah, we were VIPs!). As soon as I saw my mum, I burst into tears again!! My mum cried too, and I was just a blubbery mess…at that point, Women’s Running editor Chris whipped the camera out and interviewed me for the magazine (you can see it h e r e), then I phoned my lovely sister – and cried again – and then we just spent the time talking with all the other guys. I was absolutely beaming.

My chip time came in at 1hour41 something, but the course was definitely long. I lost count of the number of people who came up to Phoebe and I as we were walking back, saying ‘was that long!?’ Phoebe and a bunch of her runner friends have run Brighton lots before, and they all knew that the turnaround point was in the wrong place, plus her Garmin – and everyone else’s – all came up saying 13.5 miles – not 13.1. Tsk!

Top: Fellow Project 26.2 lady, Claire. / Claire, Coach Phoebe, and me / Men’sRunning Project 26.2-ers Keith, Ray, and me / Project 26.2 lady Cathy, and me

There were two other of the Men’s Running guys there too, one of which ran 1hour48 – barefoot. Not with socks or minimalist shoes, but 100% b a r e f o o t. He is a hero!

My wonderful mamma!!

After a while, my mum and I set out to go back to Aloka to get some lunch – it was only a 5minute walk from the start, and it’s a lunch spot as well as a restuarant. Lunch was incredible – they had a salad bar (kinda like Whole Foods), with so much choice: I loaded my plate with brown rice, this polenta thing, a seitan curry thing, a delicious coconut-quinoa salad with loads of cashews in, kale salads…I’ve lost track!

I also got another Vit C detox juice (heavy on the ginger!), and had a pear & lime sorbet to finish. Oh my. What a brilliant lunch! I also ran into a whole bunch of Vegan Runners in the cafe, and had a long chat with them – the two guys I chatted with finished in 1hour 32 and 1hour 37. I guess we vegans aren’t such pasty wimps after all!

After that, my mum and I drove the 3.5hours back home – we stopped halfway at a service station so we could get cappuccinos and I could stretch my legs (believe me, 3hours+ in a car isn’t comfy after pushing myself to the limit for 13 miles!), and we shared some delicious vegan cake we picked up at Aloka.

It was such an amazing weekend!! I feel so much more positive now, especially after Phoebe told me I have a 1hour30 half in my future!! I just want to pinch myself – this race meant such a huge amount to me. It wasn’t the first, the longest, or the hilliest race I’ve ever done, but I have never given so much. I was grimacing in those last miles, but it was so worth it. I am in love with running! I am also so incredibly grateful to Women’s Running magazine for giving me this opportunity..I could cry just thinking about it!

Anyway – this post is quite possibly the longest post I’ve ever written, so i’ll stop…butttt…

It just goes to show what you can do when you really dig deep and push yourself though! BRING ON BRIGHTON MARATHON, APRIL 15TH!!!

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