Race 19: Seaford Half Marathon
Race: The Seaford Half Marathon
Distance: 13.1 Miles
Time: 2 Hours 14 Minutes
This race fell in the middle of a weekend full of Birthday celebrations for Mr Alex Slack so there wasn’t much time to think about an approaching half marathon. We gave it a brief thought on Saturday night and laid out our kit and made sure we had enough milk and porridge in the house before setting the alarm for 6am- but apart from that- we gave the race very little thought until the morning of it- which was nice.
I’d decided that this was the race I was going to use to catapult me back into loving and enjoying races- rather than pushing myself and feeling terrible during and after races because wah wah wah- I didn’t get the time or pace I wanted. It was also a big race as Gemma Vincent (see my post about race one) was running her first half marathon! From Couch to 10K to Half Marathon in 7 months- amazing!
We left Shoreham in the drizzle and arrived to Seaford in the Sunshine. There were miles of beautiful blue skies and a strong sea breeze in the air- optimum running conditions! (I love running in the sunshine, but dislike overheating). The HQ was in the rugby club and Gemma and Becky had kindly already picked up our numbers which left us with little to do but gather at the start line.
The race started quite suddenly but bang on time and we took off along the seafront at Seaford, before turning along the main road and up our first public footpath. It was chilly in the breeze but as soon as we turned the corner away from the sea the breeze stopped and everyone started de-layering.The race took us gradually up onto the downs through some narrow public footpaths which saw the entire race coming to a stand still when faced with our first kissing gate (of many). We kriss-krossed through what felt like the edges of Friston Forest (i might be wrong) and then skipped down a slight chalky hill to be faced with a monster of a hill to climb. It was a consistent incline for what must have been the best part of a mile. Gemma and myself tackled the first part of it together- first at a run and then splitting up and tackling it at our own individual paces with a 30 pace walk and 30 pace run.
Once we reached the top of the hill we were rewarded with my favourite type of running conditions- undulating grassy hilltops. I left Gemma to find her own pace and enjoyed turning up the volume on my music and picking up the pace along the top of the hills while also taking some time to appreciate the beautiful views. They must be some of the best on the South downs- green hills for miles and miles that meet the blue skies and the blue sea. The hills soon dropped down into the beautiful village of Alfriston and we turned to run along the ‘Kissing Gate’ Walk which is a lovely flat riverside trail. I was a little worried when I realised where we were heading as there are often cattle grazing without fences alongside the river. Thankfully the cows were mostly safely on the other side of the river and the only heard that were on the same side as us stayed well away from the raised bank (thank gawd!). After a good 3 or 4 miles of relatively flat riverside running the race began to climb to the top of the hills again for the final couple of miles.
Soon the seafront of Seaford was in sight again and all that was left to do was run down the hill without falling off the cliff or spraining your ankle in a rabbit hole. I got a bit excited once I reached the flat ground of the seafront as I assumed the finish line was a lot closer than it actually was. I did manage to maintain a faster pace and take over a few runners as I approached the finish line with a big fat smile on my face. It was a LOVELY run- I enjoyed all of it. My time was a not too shabby 2hrs 15 minutes and to be honest with you I didn’t CARE- I was just so damn happy to have enjoyed a race again. Trail races are the BEST.
Gem crossed the finish line not much more than 5 minutes behind me and Becky and her friend Holly a few more minutes after that. Everyone stretched (a little) and chatted on about how beautiful the race was before we jumped in the cars and headed for the pub for well deserved alcoholic beverages and food. What a fabulous day.
