Check out my video of the Southend Half Marathon on YouTube: https://youtu.be/h4wdVyTfrBc

The Southend Half Marathon had a nice friendly feel to it and I had a great day attending this event.

Registration was very smooth and race packs arrived in the post a few weeks before the day of the event. Approaching race day we received emails with useful information on what to expect.

There was well marshalled, free onsite parking. It did take a bit of time to get into and out of the car park so worth not cutting it too fine with your travel plans.

There was a small event village so it was pretty straight forward meeting up with others once you have arrived.

The bag drop was well organised and we didn't have to wait much time at all to either drop off or pick up our bags.

Following a short safety briefing by the race director we started in waves based on predicted finish time.

It's a 2 lap course, the majority of which is along the sea front at Shoeburyness. Except for one very short incline towards the end, the course was about as flat as they come so loads of potential for a PB.

I was impressed at the number of water stations along the course. It meant that if you missed one you could easily wait until the next one. The water was in plastic cups and not bottles. The water stations also had sponges available.

Upon finishing we received a medal and a goody bag.

So all in all I really enjoyed the event. I'd certainly come back and race it again, simply because of the PB potential.

But don't just take my word for it, have a look at my video and see for yourself: https://youtu.be/h4wdVyTfrBc