A trip down memory lane

The Ikano Bank Robin Hood half marathon in Nottingham on Sunday 25^th September provided me with an opportunity to visit my old stomping ground from my University days but, perhaps more importantly, a chance to get in some good miles before tapering down for my marathon two weeks later.

My sister agreed to join me for the day so, after enjoying beans on toast for breakfast at our Travelodge in the centre; we hopped on the tram which would take us to the start area at Victoria Embankment. The tram system has expanded quite significantly in the last two years so this was slightly new to me, despite the three years I spent studying in Nottingham. It was quite easy to figure out where we were going though, just follow the crowds! We arrived at the start area with about half an hour to go, although by the time we found the baggage tent and queued for the compulsory loo stop it was about 5 minutes to go by the time we found a starting pen. For some reason, Ruth was put in the front pen, just behind the elites but she decided this was a bit too ambitious and stuck with me. Due to the lateness of our arrival we were towards the back of the pen, but as I wanted a steady start anyway I wasn’t too worried about this.

Both the marathon and half marathon started together at 9.30am (set off by local Rio hero Richard Whitehead) and followed the same course past the castle, down towards Jubilee Campus and Wollaton Park and back towards the station and the finish area for the half marathon. The marathon then carried on towards the east of the city before coming back for their finish. Therefore, the first few miles were very busy, so busy that we actually came to a standstill only 1.5 miles in by the castle, where the road seemed a bit too narrow for the volume of runners. Ruth and I were sticking together for this bit, we planned to run most of the race together, but I managed to pull away (accidentally) on the hill up to mile 3 and we ran separately for the rest of the race.

The water stations provided a new challenge. Instead of the traditional water bottles, the Nottingham organisers decided to give out water pouches. These provided great confusion at the first station, as runners tried to figure out how they worked! It seemed we were supposed to squeeze them, a bit like a gel, but people around me were certainly squeezing them down themselves more than in their mouths! The organisers claimed that these were safer as there is less risk of runners turning their ankles on discarded ones and, being smaller, perhaps less water is wasted but I think I’ll stick to bottles in the future.

As we hit mile 4 on Triumph Road, I took the chance to wave at my old lecture theatres. This was also the first of three sections where the route looped back on itself, so we had the chance to see the faster runners. Despite looking at the course map before I went, I somehow hadn’t worked out that I would already see people at this stage, having already done 8 miles! I was bang on pace at this stage so was happy with how my race was going. The next 2 mileposts provided some confusion though. Miles 4-5 felt very close together and indeed when I glanced at my watch as we went past I saw we were only at about 4.6 miles! I carried on, thinking my watch had somehow missed a bit but when it happened again with the next mile, I started to get confused. Was it just my watch? Was the race going to be short? Luckily other runners were voicing the same thoughts and Miles 7 and onwards were back on track so it seems to have been just those two miles that were early.

As we headed through Wollaton Park I admired the scenery and grabbed a Lucozade to get an energy boost. By now I was warmed up and feeling good, so I decided to pick up the pace a bit in the second half, knowing that the main hills had by this stage been conquered. As I turned back along Triumph Road I took the opportunity to cheer on the slower runners, many of whom were doing the marathon (indicated by a pale pink number) so therefore still had over 20 miles to cover. There was someone pushing an empty wheelchair (!), 4 people pushing a hospital bed, a few Robin Hoods and a Santa Claus! I told him he was 3 months early, which caused a few laughs.

As we looped along Derby Road and back through Lenton, it was a great chance to run past the ends of my old roads and past various pubs and outlets I’d frequented during my time in Nottingham. Finally, we turned back along Castle Boulevard, past the 10 mile mark and towards the town centre, passing by the station and back towards the river. We reached the finish area, where the half marathoners were told to keep right and the marathoners were told to go left. I felt quite pleased that I was finishing at this point, it must have been quite hard for the marathoners to see us go off towards the finish, knowing they’d not quite got to halfway. I powered away and got a few cheers in the finish straight and completed the race in 1.53.43. My plan to pick up pace in the second half had worked well as I got a 4-minute negative split and my last mile was my fastest in 7.56! However, when looking at the results later, I realised if I’d held back a little bit I perhaps could have got position 1932 to match my race number (I finished in position 1915 so not too far off)!

I moved through the finish funnel and then decided to wait by the side and see if I spotted my sister coming through. Despite having not seen her on any of the out and back bits, I figured she wouldn’t be too far behind me and I wasn’t wrong, as she finished about 3 minutes later in 1.56.56. Although neither of us got a PB, she seemed pretty happy to finish only her second half-marathon in less than 2 hours, especially as she’d only agreed to join me 4 weeks before, so hadn’t done as much training as she’d perhaps wanted to do.

Overall, I loved going back to Nottingham for the race and running past sights that bought back some great memories; although I’m not convinced I’d rush back. The water pouches were really fiddly to work and I wasn’t too impressed with either the mile markers being out and the very small goodie bag at the end, including having to pay extra for the t-shirt (which I didn’t get). Maybe I’ve developed high standards from all the races I’ve done, especially the local ones which are often a lot cheaper! For now, time to rest up and recover before the marathon in less than 2 weeks.

Clare Evans