This is the first time I have ran around Southampton do I chose the half marathon to gauge the route. 

Booking process & start

I found the booking site easy to use and I later found out that entries could have been upgraded to the full marathon until 3 days before the event. This is the first event I’ve heard of doing this; a nice touch. The start was a bit weird, I didn’t know what was going on nor could I see the pacers. It was forecasted to be a hot day so I wanted to keep a pacer in sight so I kept to the plan without overheating. Turns out that the pacers were wearing an orange t shirt and they were all at the front to start. 

With the amount of people attending, I believe that the pacers should have been spread out amongst the crowd; this would have meant that the faster runners wouldn’t have had to weave past a few extra people whilst the slower pacers were getting into their rhythm.

The route & race

The route was quite undulating and had various interesting views including running through the football ground, Itchen bridge (twice!!) and a couple of parks which towards the end was a welcome bit of shade.

Overall 

During the race I heard complaints from other runners that there were not enough water stops which I have to agree with. On a cooler day then the planned amount would have been fine but due to the temperature and the build up of heat from the previous days, an extra water stop or two should have been factored in. The mist machine on the course was a nice touch though.

The locals were brilliant, and to the people with garden hoses and water guns, whoever you are, thank you!

The medal was a good size and the T shirt was nice too.

I would do this race again and maybe with a bit more training, may do the full marathon.