Race review: #24 Southampton Marathon

Southampton, Hampshire. Sunday, 23rd April 2017.

I had “rage entered” this marathon after being once again rejected in the London marathon ballot. It is held on the same day as London. The organisers of this race - Rees leisure - have organised a half down in Southampton for the past couple of years, but this year also offered a full marathon. This was the first marathon in Southampton to be organised since 1984 (so I've read), and was basically two laps of the half course, including the famous Itchen Bridge which I fancied having a shot at running over. As this was fairly local to where I live I decided to go for it, and I’m so glad I did.

Race day arrived and of course the usual silly o’clock start. I had my usual marathon breakfast of toast with marmalade and granola. My running buddy Emma had offered me a lift down to Southampton, and her husband and her two youngest children came along to cheer us and the other runners on. It was beautiful clear morning although a bit chilly. The journey down to Southampton was a quick burn down the M3, as we approached Southampton it was quite misty and became even chillier. A slight panic set in that I had just my club vest on top and no base layer, was I going to freeze? Before we knew it we had parked up in the West Quay car park. This was very reasonable at £5 for the entire day and was close to the race village, it was just a short walk.

We walked up to the race village (shivering in the cold despite having thick jumpers on) although not entirely sure where we were going – we followed everyone else who admitted they didn’t know where they were going! Haha! I knew that it was close to the train station so we headed in that general direction.

Emma, queen of selfies!

The “race village” was in Guildhall Square, although it was fairly small it was quite good. Breeze FM had a stand and of course Emma, queen of selfies, got chatting to one of the ladies on the stand so a selfie had to be done. I was also invited to have a go at the high striker (of course I was terrible). The atmosphere here was really nice, there was music and a chap on the PA "warming us up". That was a nice touch.

I spotted that their was a massage tent provided by Nuffield Health, with free pre- and post- race massages offered, no appointment required. That was a fab thought, sadly I was unable to take advantage of this.

As we still had plenty of time we decided to go to one of the many coffee shops that were open. There was one literally opposite the Guildhall. This wasn’t packed at all and it was great to have a decent posh coffee before the marathon, I certainly needed waking up.

Baggage drop was in the Guildhall building right next to the event village. There were plenty of desks available for drop-off and no queue at all. Also downstairs were good loo facilities, again no queue! Such a contrast to the horrendous and stressful queues at Brighton two weeks earlier. I thought having the Guildhall was really good as it gave runners somewhere to shelter in the warm away from the elements. Although it was nice and sunny it was still a bit chilly, although that was soon to change!

By now time was really marching on towards the 9am start time, so we went over to try and find the marathon start. This was in a different place to the half marathon and 10K start. I had looked at the map before hand and knew that is was somewhere inside Palmerston Park – but it was not easy to spot. One thing they could improve on next year would be some signage as we did end up wandering around in a slight mild panic!

We could see the marathon warm up so headed there. I bumped into Beth from my running club which was really nice, quite surprising given how many runners had entered. She was running the 10K so had a slightly later start time. 

The lady doing the warm-up sounded a bit like she had a rocket up her backside and way too enthusiastic for 8.45 in the morning! Ha ha! No point wasting energy I thought.

We followed the masses and lined up ready for the marathon start. Emma spotted some folks she knew including the race director of Alice Holt parkrun, so it was nice to have a bit of a chat. Before we knew it, the start horn sounded at bang on 9 o’clock, and we were off. There weren’t that many runners in the marathon, so it only took a couple of minutes to cross the timing mat. The course wasn’t crowded and I was able to run pretty much from the start. A guy dressed as a gingerbread man came tanking it past me and left me standing.

The first bit couple of miles the route was urban around central Southampton and took us literally “round the houses”. The roads were all closed to traffic (oddly, with road closure signs written in Welsh or Irish Gaelic…) I knew I had set off too fast and had to try hard to rein myself back and let everyone gradually over take me, until I had found my pace along with fellow runners. Emma was much faster than me and I'd lost her in the first mile.

We then entered Southampton Common and which took us through a lovely park. This had the first water station of the route, which was notable for the amusing signs that the children had made, it did make me laugh. 

It was already beginning to heat up and I was glad that I hadn’t worn a base layer. I was pleased they were handing out small 330ml bottles of water which for me, is just right.  I’m not a big fan of drinking out of paper cups during a marathon (too easy to spill it down yourself, and you don’t get enough to drink), and the big 500ml bottles are, well, just too big! You end up drinking some and lobbing the bottle or carrying it with you. Discarded full bottles are a trip hazard, I remember from London in 2015 that two of my fellow club runners came a cropper on discarded bottles. The water stations were well marshalled by the local cubs, scouts, and beavers – this gave the event such a nice community feeling. There was no problem at all getting water at any of the stations, and the kids had the bottles all ready with the lid off. Not to mention lots of enthusiastic encouragement to all the runners. Just perfect!

As per usual I got chatting to a couple of fellow runners and they told me the common was the venue for Southampton parkrun. It was nice and flat, so I was able to get into my stride and hit “cruising speed”. I had decided that, as per usual, I would “Jeff” this marathon so a mixture of 3 mins run and 1 minute walk.  Although this seemed slightly mad at the start to take walk breaks, I knew from experience that I would avoid hitting the wall if I did so. 

After a couple of miles we exited the common and then we had went around district of Portswood, the local church had loads of supporters out again with more humorous ‘motivational’ signs. 

I bumped into a Black Water Valley runner (another local running club, and my wife Mel is a member). She was called Karen and she was running with her friend Mary, it was her first marathon. We chatted for a few miles and this helped to take my mind off the fact the temperature was now feeling like we were in an oven.  One thing I really enjoy about running long distances race is that it can be incredibly sociable, it's very easy to get talking to anyone as we all have a shared goal - to get to the flipping end! haha!

At around mile 5 we headed up towards the University and another water station. This was just great. Loads of the students came out to help marshal the water station, also there was a DJ belting out music, and lots of people cheering. Some of the students ran with us for a bit and chatted and generally gave us lots of encouragement – this was just brilliant.  After the University was a really nasty hill which I strategically decided to walk. Lots of people were slowly jogging up, but didn’t want to waste too much energy this early on and I knew many of my fellow runners would be paying for that uphill run on their second lap. Southampton is not a flat route, my Garmin told me it was around 800 feet of elevation in total. Not exactly the Alps, but no way pancake flat.

Cobden Bridge

The course then took us across the first bridge of the day across the River Itchen, we then went down onto the towpath alongside the River which was lovely. There was another water station, where I spotted a group of cubs bottle flipping and I jokingly asked them why they weren’t dabbing, which they then all did for me!  I was taking on quite a lot of water by now as it was getting hot as well as tipping some over my head. We went then did a loop of Riverside park and headed back the way we came. This part of the route wasn’t difficult although there were quite a few up and down inclines. I knew from experience that you have to be careful not to overcook it on the “up” inclines especially as we’d not hit 10 miles yet, so I carried on with the run/walk and walked the steeper sections. Gravity did it’s fair share of the work on the way down, so I more than compensated. 

Running alongside the Itchen

As we got past the 9 mile point, the “lead cyclist” came through shouting at us to make way for the leaders. A handful of runners came steaming past us, they were already on their second lap, although the expression on their faces was pretty grim and I don’t think they were having as much as fun as me!

Around mile 10 was the first really nice surprise of the day, we had just ran alongside the railway and suddenly the Southampton football stadium swung into sight. The runners got to run inside the stadium alongside the pitch, this was a really nice touch.   

Coming through the Stadium

As we exited the stadium we went through a small industrial estate, and then suddenly joined by the 10K and the half marathon runners. The course had gone from fairly empty to suddenly absolutely ram packed! I can imagine that the 10K runners and faster runners would be quite annoyed by us slower marathon runners clogging the course up. I made sure I stuck to the right so people could easily get past me, but did see a lot of runners weaving in and out.

Cheerleading on the Itchin Bridge

Another mile up hill, then a sharp left turn and the Itchen Bridge swung into sight. I had heard fellow runners talking about this and how bad it would be, fortunately I didn’t find it as bad as was made out. It was basically the only out-and-back section of the course, with around a mile incline, followed by a flat section, then of course a mile going slightly downhill as you came back.  It was great that a water station was provided on both sides of the bridge, so plenty to drink.  As I made that climb upwards I heard someone shout my name out, it was Beth from Hart Road Runners who was running her 10K. She was coming back the other way. I waved back and shouted back to her. That gave me a lift. The bridge area had loads of support, and even some cheerleading going on!

As we exited the Itchen Bridge we made our way through the city centre on London Road and back towards the start and the second lap. This was a surprisingly nice part of the route, as we went past West Quay on our left and then approached “Above bar”, we then took a right turn through Hoglands Park. 

Entrance to "Above Bar"

Do I have to?

Approaching the finish area, marathon runners were directed to go straight on and start our second lap, and the half and 10K runners went left so they could finish. I have to admit, it was quite tempting to say "sod it", and go on through the finish and be done with it! I was boiling hot, getting pretty knackered and didn’t really fancy another 13 miles in the heat. But no, the full marathon I’d entered and that was what I was going to do, another step on the way to hitting my goal of 100. So, as we started the second lap there was another aid station, this one packed with Lucozade energy drinks with multiple flavours available. This was a really nice touch, I took a bottle with me as I was pretty well hydrated.

Beautiful Wisteria

The start of the second lap was lovely, we went through the park for a second time and through some lovely Wisteria. I had got chatting to a fellow runner Kate, who had come down from the Wirral to run Southampton. As we exchanged banter and marathon horror stories, it really helped take my mind off those horrible middle miles (13-20). As we had now lost the 10K and half marathon runners the course had got much quieter, unfortunately a lot of the support had also now faded away. The remaining marshals and supporters were very enthusiastic though. We just dug in and kept going, enjoying the common for the second time. I especially enjoyed seeing the bluebells which were now in at their best.

By the time I had reached mile 20, things were beginning to get really tough, so I bid a farewell to Kate who went on ahead, and decided it was time to power walk. My running pace had slowed down to around 12-13 min/miles, and I knew I could power walk a 13 min/mile with less effort. 

By now I was overtaking fellow runners like crazy even though I was speed walking, including going faster than some who were still running– much to their annoyance, sorry to anyone I overtook! I got chatting to a fellow runner “Big Rich” who had completed more than 200 marathons, and we had a great chat about the Snowdonia marathon which I’ve entered later this year. This really took my mind off everything and suddenly I was back on the Itchen bridge (or, as Kate called it, “bitchin’ bridge”). This time though, it really hurt, even though it wasn’t too much of an incline I had gone a very long way and my legs really ached.  The view from the bridge was really spectacular though, looking out towards Southampton Water and the Isle of Wight. This helped take my mind off the considerable complaining from my hips and also the burning sensation on my shoulders (thanks to the sunburn!)

View from the Itchen Bridge

By now I was really boiling hot and tired, so I just kept pushing for that last mile after the bridge. I took my last handful of jelly babies from the enthusiastic supporters in Hoglands Park, then it was onto the home straight. This time round I was able to take that left turn and head up towards the finish line. As I headed towards the finish line, I noticed that the over head gantry flashed up your name and number on an LED screen – what a great touch!

On crossing the timing mat at the finish line, I was immediately handed a bottle of water and a very friendly marshal hanged my finish medal for me. I was handed a goody bag and given a finishers t-shirt. Once really nice touch was that both the medal and t-shirt specifically mentioned “marathon”, it would have been easy for the organisers to just make a generic one that covered the 10K, Half and Full but they went the extra mile. Great job!

At the end they were also handing out free non-alcoholic beer (Erdinger) which I passed on. They had a giant screen showing the finishers come in, and flashing their names up which was great. The local radio station Breeze FM was playing loud music and generally it was a wonderful atmosphere in the sunshine, I would have happily stayed around here for an hour or two to chat to finishers.

Kate was waiting for me at the end to congratulate me which was really lovely, we had a hug and I returned the congratulations. We of course took the mandatory finish selfie. Collecting my bag from the Guildhall was no problem and the very friendly helpers had it for me in no time. I called Emma and we had a final coffee and something to eat. Leaving West Quay was no problem at all, no queues or anything and we were on our way home within minutes.

I was a bit worried that this race might have been dull, especially being two laps but how wrong was I. The organisation was absolutely top notch and it was great value for money. So much so, that I’ve already entered the 2018 ABP Southampton marathon. This race was a bit of a hidden gem, it’s not obvious from the website that a full marathon is on at the same time. Full, half or 10K, I think this race is brilliant and really recommend it.