The first Hamwic marathon outing
The Southampton marathon couldn’t have been more fitting for our first Hamwic marathon outing. Even so, it had its ups and downs, and I’m not just talking about the Itchen Bridge. The beautiful weather made for some great photographs of Team Hamwic in their bright new shirts but the heat wasn’t the best thing for running a marathon. Some of the Harriers were pacing, notably Ian Howard. Nikki of Reese Leisure agreed he could pace the half, change his shirt and then run a second lap to complete the full marathon. Only Ian could get away with such shenanigans. Others were running the 10k, half marathon, including tail walkers Kim and Vicky, and the full twenty six point two miles with four passes over the dreaded bridge.
Rob and Dave had been training hard for the marathon and were both aiming for PB’s. Unfortunately, rounding off a great training plan taking a ‘nice easy’ bike ride with cycling legend, John Grant, during their tapering was not one of their better ideas. Lots of miles, lots of hills and too much male pride left them both slightly broken. Thanks to this lapse of judgement both ran personal worst marathon times rather than personal bests but at least they did both finish.
The day was too hot to be a PB kind of event but the Hamwic Harriers taking part all did a great job of getting round their chosen distances. The cheering team also deserve a mention for waiting on the finish line to the bitter end and cheering like mad as every red shirt went past. A crowd of loud supporters really does make all the difference, especially during such a tough race.
