I have done a couple of Rock n Roll events in the past (Las Vegas & Edinburgh) and they are well organised and offer some of the best (and heaviest) finisher medals out there. Coupled with the fact this race was going to be in the city both my parents are from it was a must on my race calendar; even if it meant missing the next installment of the British Grand Prix races (the London 10km.)
I arrived in Liverpool the night before the race and followed a usual pattern of no alcohol, lots of pasta, bread and a fairly early night.
The race was both a half and full marathon and we were due to start at 8am. A very early start...especially when you take into account having breakfast, digesting and getting to the start line to warm up. So up at 6am I felt ready for the day and it was a beautiful morning weather wise. Down at the start line the atmosphere was heating up and we were soon getting into our "pens". I was in the first wave so was next to the two presenters who were doing a good job of warming the crowd up. The female presenter asked for a smile from a runner to which I obliged....leaving her to comment that she was lucky to get a smile from the man with the shortest shorts on. I hadn't really thought that mine were that short but looking round perhaps mine did show off a little more skin that what others were wearing. Oh well...shorts surely are meant to be short (clue in the name) and you have to offer something special to the viewing public :-)
Austin Healey (the Rugby player) was setup to fire the start gun and was stood just in front of us for a little photo shoot. Just before the countdown he took his own selfie on his phone with the crowd in the background and I successfully managed to photo bomb and make it onto the picture which he later on tweeted. Already a successful race then in my mind...especially as he was just on Tom Daley's "Splash" programme which means I am one step closer to a tweet from Mr. Daley himself....
We set off through the Albert Dock which is one of my favourite parts of Liverpool. The waterfront is really impressive and added with a dollop of nostalgia from my childhood visits to the city it was a great start to the race. The leaders already had pulled quite far ahead within a mile but what I also noticed was that the next person behind me was quite far away too which meant that I felt like I was in a scene from 28 days later (but set in Liverpool) as at this early time of the morning there were not too many supporters out too. It was nice to have the city to myself but it also meant I needed to concentrate on where I was running as I couldn't just follow the crowd. The risk of taking a wrong turn was high!
Coming out of the city and heading up to several parks which we were due to run through took us up some mighty hills which although didn't last too long felt pretty steep. Even in the park there were some tight turns and again some steep inclines so in my head I knew I wouldn't be getting a PB so was just concentrating on getting as good a time and position as I could.
Around 12km into the race I spotted one of my cousins on the sideline and she gave me a high five which revived me greatly for the second half! The Rock n Roll runs have many bands along the route but sadly as I was going past them the majority were not ready so it was lucky I had my own Rock (well pop actually) music to keep me company.
The last three miles or so is along the waterfront back towards the dock which was a great way to finish the race. The crowd was forming at the finish line already and finishing with the announcer shouting my name felt good. My result was:
Overall time: 1 hour 21 minutes 1 second
Place: 13th out of 3,485
So not a PB but a good position to finish in.
I spent the rest of the day refuelling on food as well as rum and ginger beer....perhaps that's why I didn't make it into the top ten. Maybe next year eh?!
I made my way back down south visiting my Mum on the way who tried on my medal and said she had been thinking about running the race too. That made me smile a lot and was a perfect round off to the race weekend.
A selfie with a rugby player at the start line...try and spot me:
Almost there for a high five from my cousin:
Finished and in the Albert Dock....LOVE Liverpool:
Mum "considered" running the race too apparently!
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