When you are coming back from injury, or in my case illness, racing becomes a very different experience - one to be savioured. Without the focus on a pb your attention tends to look at the other 'stuff' outside of 'is it a flat pb course'. 

So lets do this. 

The course is flat, it is fast, it is picturesque (for the most part) and the city centre start is awesome. The start was a bit confusing and a bit congested with navigating the city streets to find pens etc not brilliant. The toilet count, as ever, wasnt brilliant but thats standard - isnt it?

The weather report was for scortchio however I'm sure I wont be alone is saying 'by eck it was chilly' and here the problems start. After 3 miles we hit the first water station. IF the weather had been as predicted the organisers wouyld have been in trouble as from this point on water stations were not exactly abundant. Coupled with a lack of clear mile markers this led to pacing/hydration issues. 

The course does loop back on itself so there is the inevitable issue with seeing fellow runners heading in the opposite direction which psychologically doesnt sit well with all.

The finish was dissapointing with no 800 meters to go, 400 meters to go etc. following a sharp right turn  - here at least there was a 100 meters to go sign - you are suddently running on metal which was clearly covering grass. Not brilliant on tired legs.

The finish was pretty well organised and personally I didn't really care much for the goody box - where do you stuff your sweaty kit?

Would I go back? For some reason it didnt grab me and honestly I cant say why but this is a goiod race. It just lacked a certain wow factor although the bling.... the bling is lovely. 

I'm sure many will rave about this race. I guess I just expected more and for me mile markers and good, regular hydration stations are an absolute must.