Thank you to everyone for the pompom wishes before this race. There were times when it was really good to have that support!
This one was a bit different! The whole race takes place in and around Farnborough airport. I hadn’t really thought about it in advance, but was surprised to find the airport was open as normal with planes taking off and landing throughout the race. At least it was distracting, especially racing a plane alongside the runway on tired legs🛫
The entire route was tarmac, mostly around the runway and the airpark, with a small loop through trees around the perimeter road. None of it was particularly pretty though, even the two waterways we crossed were full of junk. It was described as flat, which it pretty much was (138m elevation overall)- a few ups and downs, but only mild and short inclines.
It was a fairly small race which I quite like - just over 2000 runners in the half - but still there were queues everywhere. We were advised there would be plenty of parking in town, and indeed there was when we arrived about 50 minutes before the race. But! Every one of the car parks had long lines to pay for tickets; Rushmoor council don’t seem to have embraced Ringo or any of their competitors and this was further exacerbated by the one and only machine (mostly) not accepting card payments. That was a long line and a long time to stand in the cold wind that prevailed at 8.30am on Sunday 🥶 At this point we seriously wished we had booked into the race hotel, which would have been relatively cheap and VERY convenient).
When we finally had a ticket for the car, it was only a short walk to the race venue. But NOT a short queue for the bag drop (a first for me). We inadvertently joined halfway through the queue, but the poor folk who joined at the back had another long wait. By the time we headed for the loos at least those queues had diminished - largely because everyone else was either at the start line already or still in the bag drop queue!
As we had no intention of running fast, we weren’t particularly concerned and simply joined in at the back, although we heard that some people were a good 15 minutes late starting!
While the course wasn’t very inspiring - to me at least - the marshalls were plentiful and lovely, there were more spectators than I expected and the water stations were well stocked (I almost missed the first one as I was busy looking the other way, cheering and clapping all the juniors coming towards us in their 800m event!).
The best bit was the end (isn’t it always?)😍; smoothly through to collect a lovely chunky wintery medal, a pair of gloves and a neck warmer, then on for some free cakes provided by a local church and a very welcome cup of tea!
We already knew this had been a pretty fast race the previous two years (pacers only go up to 2h15m, then Run/walk- which still came in not much after 2h30m), but neither of us were last, which is always a bonus😎. Photos were free, but none of mine are worth putting up in a post - the medal is far prettier!!!
Would I recommend it? I guess so if you want to run a half in January (Couchpotato2 and I wanted something to mark the HM stage of our marathon plans, always intending it to be a training run with added bling and support). It was OK... but if you can wait a few weeks, then I reckon there must be more interesting ones to choose from.
Still, it was a good day out and a great feeling to have run a half marathon again (my last official one being Vancouver, just over a year ago) 🏃♀️🏅💪
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linda9389
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Congratulations on completing that half marathon Linda9389, running along a plane taking off sounds interesting, a bit noisy too I would think, that's a lovely medal 🥉.
Definitely noisy! The ones coming in to land had me ducking and scanning the sky! I do love the medal - it depicts the big hangar which was pretty impressive.
That sounds like a very honest race report Linda - I do think this one attracts a lot of faster club runners. It may be near- ish but I think I will give it a miss, should I ever achieve such distances again! That said, lovely medal and other goodies - which from your other post, you very definitely earned! 🙂
As you'd expressed interest I didn't want to gloss over things. Having said that, the car park issue may have been a one off, likewise the bag drop. But nothing is going to make it pretty 😍
Congratulations on your half marathon! Well done. It certainly is an accomplishment at whatever speed. The medal , gloves etc look great. Sounds good but not amazing as an event . 🙂
Thabk you. Agreed. The end was so much better than the beginning or the middle. Still a great day, especially going with company. And I was home in time for lunch too which is a bonus 😍
Wonderful Linda! 👏👏 I’m going to buck the trend and say that, to me, it sounds like a fab course. 😀 I love seeing planes taking off and landing - after all I see them every time I run or walk on our local common. I’d love to “race” one up the runway too! That race sounds out of my league though …. chances are I would be last! 😂
Great looking goodies, but it does sound like you had to endure a fair amount of queuing - not ideal in last weekend’s Arctic temperatures 🥶
The queuing may have been an unfortone off (can't blame the race organisers for the parking issue). Maybe you should try it though, just for the planes 😀
The gloves and neck warmer went on immediately! Much easier than holding the slippery packages and the warmth was very welcome. They got a bit covered in cake crumbs though .... Oh ... of course the medal went on immediately too!!!
Congrats Linda, as a lover of planes, trains and automobiles, I think I might enjoy this one. Maybe not the queues though. At least you got some nice bling!
Haha. All very orderly. Although two ladies somehow strolled to the machine and came away with a ticket in their hand! Lots of chat in line about that 😅
an amazing first race of the season , lovely medal and goodies and weather not too grim, sounds great. (Queuing not so great). Well done for getting out there.
Great write up Linda and really well done in what we know now were not in ideal conditions for you.
That’s a great haul of goodies though! All very useful 🙂
My very first race (a 5K colour run) was on an airfield and we had to register on a plane. It was great fun and very exciting to begin with although a bit boring running around an open airfield. That was only a 5K, not sure I’d fancy a HM. So I think you did really well with that one 👍
My first Race for Life 10k was round RAF Waddington and I followed it many years later with the Spitfire 10k at RAF Cosford. Not very interesting, but iconic!
Very well done Linda, It's a great experience to run anywhere different. Apart from the big marathons, I can't imagine 2000 people at an event, it's almost like a different world. We would be lucky to get 200 at a few of the ones around here.
Well done Linda for even considering a HM at this time of year. I do like the idea of gloves and a buff instead of a T-shirt . Far more practical in January and no probs with sizing/shape. Lovely that you got to do it in fine company too.
Massive congratulations Linda, you did really well considering all the potential barriers before you even started. Interesting with the planes still taking off, can't quite get my head around that part! Medals and goodies look good though, particularly the gloves!
Thanks HH. Being two of us, it was easier to stay calm. Knowing there were a lot of people behind us in each queue made it easier to stay calm! The gloves are knitted acrylic, so probably not that great for running ... but they were perfect for post run!!!
I know the sorts-I live very near an airport. Cheaper house and bonus…I actually like the planes! Sounds like my idea of fun. I sometimes do intervals on an old runway which isn’t used any more and picture planes landing or taking off (Top Gun style!!) to help me run faster. Real ones would be living the dream…. Seriously tempted to try this next year!
I once ran early morning on a disused Bomber Command airbase in Lincs and imagined how it was back in the day. It was eerily quiet but desolately lovely.
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London Winter Run completed!
New Forest Half Marathon. Got the T shirt.
End of year half marathon