New Forest Half Marathon – 27 September 2009

Teresa Grist reports on her first half marathon.

At the end of March I went along to watch Paul run the Mad March 20 mile race. At that time I’d only been running a little bit and was able to do about three miles, albeit quite slowly. I got talking to Bob who told me that he’d started a beginners running group and encouraged me to go along. So the following Thursday I bit the bullet and went for my first run in Wimborne. When I arrived I was a little nervous as I thought that I would be so much worse than everyone else. I needn’t have worried though and I was made to feel very welcome. My first run was with Bob and Celia and I think we did about four miles.  I found it hard but did enjoy it.

Over the next couple of months I went along to every Thursday session and soon found that my running improved. I started to increase my distance, do some fartlek sessions (which I’d never even heard of, let alone done!) and doing some hill sessions which I had always avoided before. At the end of May I did my first 10K race and then I entered the Poole 10K and knocked a couple of minutes off the time of my first one. By doing these races I could really see that my running was improving. I decided to set myself the goal of running the New Forest Half Marathon at the end of September. I started to increase the distances I was running in my training and when I told Celia I’d entered she decided to have a go too. We did quite a lot of training together and encouraged each other around the Wimborne 10 route a few times. 

On the day of the race I was quite nervous. I felt that I’d prepared quite well and was pretty sure that I’d be able to run the whole distance. We left in what we thought was plenty of time but as we got nearer to New Milton we got stuck in  traffic which was a nightmare. Eventually we got to the car park only to find it was full. I had a bit of a panic then as I it was getting close to the start time and I wasn’t near the start. I ended up leaping out of the car and leaving Paul to worry about the parking. I followed the mass of people heading towards the start. It seems that they’d all had trouble parking.

I made it to the field and joined a long queue for the loo. Announcements were being made about how all half marathon runners should have been at the start so I started to get worried that it would start without me. A lovely chap was going to be doing the marathon let me push to the front of the queue and then I dashed to the start and had a sponge thrust into my hand along the way. I saw Claire, Craig and Ian who all wished me luck. Paul had made it to the start to see me off as he’d found somewhere to park and jumped on his bike. It made a change for him to be the one supporting me as it’s normally the other way round. I managed to find Celia in the throng of people and she had had just as much trouble getting there as I had. It was lovely to see a friendly face and we decided to start the race together. 

The race started at New Milton and then headed out towards Bashley. It was very busy for the first half a mile or so and then the crowd started to spread out a bit. I started near the back of the crowd as I wasn’t sure of my pace and didn’t want to end up starting too fast. Celia and I soon seemed to get a reasonable pace going and were encouraging each other along. Paul and Guy appeared near the Rising Sun Inn and were cheering us along.

The course was quite flat to begin with which was great for me as I hadn’t been too good at doing a lot of hill training. I was led into a false sense of security though as there was a nasty hill coming up at the 3.5 mile point just past Wootton Bridge. I got to the top pretty easily and then it levelled out again. We went gently down hill to the eight mile point. At one point an old camper van sputtering fumes pulled out just in front of us. I wasn’t quick enough to over take it and it was getting in the way of a lot of people. Judging by the mutterings I could hear around me I wasn’t the only one annoyed by it.  One of the marshals soon got it to pull over out of the way and we made our way past. There were lots of water and sponge stations along the way. I did think it might have been a little annoying to carry the sponge but managed to tuck it into the waistband of my shorts. It was a warm day so being able to get some cool water on the sponge was very welcome. There were also lots of people out cheering us on and the encouragement that everyone gave was great. There were even some little girls doing some cheerleading and making up cheers to encourage the runners along.

Teresa (2825) and Celia (4045) looking confident and going well in the New Forest.

I’d been warned about the hill between eight and nine miles and this was the bit I was dreading the most. I slowed up a bit but was determined to run all the way. I was secretly rather pleased with myself when I was running past people that had stopped to walk.

I was starting to get a bit tired at this point and the next water station was a welcome sight in the distance. However as I approached I had a little skirmish with another runner. He cut in front of me to get some water and as I tried to avoid him I ended up twisting my ankle.  It was pretty sore and I did stop and walk for a minute or so.  The pain died down a bit but I knew this was going to slow me up considerably. Celia was just ahead of me at this point but I knew I wouldn’t catch her up. I felt a bit sorry for myself but was adamant that I was going to finish. I wasn’t going to let a sore ankle stop me even if I did have to walk.

I started running again and although my ankle was sore it wasn’t as bad as I first thought.  I kept going and as I approached the Rising Sun Inn I knew that there was only three miles to go. Paul and Guy were outside having a pint and I was almost tempted to stop and join then. Instead I opted for a couple of jelly baby sweets and carried on. I knew the last three miles to the finish was all down hill and that I was almost there.  I felt like I was doing OK and the 12 mile marker soon appeared. With just one mile to go my legs didn’t seem to want to move any more. Every step was an effort and my ankle was niggling me too. I turned onto the main road and knew I was almost there. The race finished at the leisure centre and I saw Celia just before I got there. She’d already finished and was there to cheer me over the finish line. Paul and Guy had managed to drink up their pints and get back to the finish. Bob was there to cheer me over the line too. Crossing that line felt fabulous.  When I hurt my ankle I thought I wouldn’t be able to carry on but I mustered up some determination from somewhere and got across that finish line. I was so pleased that I’d achieved my goal of running a half marathon. I finished in a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 23 seconds.  I was pretty pleased with that for a first attempt as six months ago I’d never have imagined I’d be able to run 13 miles.It just goes to show what a little determination, training and encouragement from everyone at Wimborne AC can do.

Teresa