So a fabulous weekend in Bournemouth for the Bournemouth Marathon Festival . Saw Martin Yelling busily sorting various issues with the race crew etc ..
We hired a fab little beach hut so we could really enjoy the ambiance ,sea views and sea air to the full. The weather was great yesterday afternoon and today .. Just totally perfect running weather with clear blue skies and the very gentlest of breezes.

The weekend kicked off with Junior Races on Sat afternoon followed by the Supersonic 10k at 4pm along the Prom . Super flat course and super fast runners.

Next came The Speed of Light 5k at 7pm and wow what a spectacle. Loads of runners in hi viz brightly coloured kit , streamers in peoples hair with coloured lights , LED hairbands, necklaces, and people with coloured lights draped around them. All runners were given LED wristbands so the sight of the runners on the pier was wonderful .. Totally amazing to watch the pier light up with runners.

Then this morning ( Sun) brought us the Bournemouth Half Marathon with its 8am start followed by the Bournemouth Marathon at 10am . The half marathon course is wonderful with perfect views but I understand the full marathon course is rather boring and dull due to repeated loops and twists.

However I just can’t praise the organisation enough and great spectator support is always so welcome . Put that with a perfect day for racing and Wow !! Today and yesterday afternoon we had clear blue skies and the gentlest of breezes . Lets not discuss Sat am when I had to go and buy a rain mac!!!

So as for me .. I did the Half .. Pacing strongly and felt great to mile 10 when I met my old friend Mr Piriformis who decided to re organise my pace and finish time for me! Pretty cross he scratched out 1:56:00 and replaced it with 2:02:23 . However bearing in mind my ankle injury 4 weeks ago and a difficult week with a shin splint I wasn’t totally disheartened. For anyone thinking of a great weekend away running racing and spectating Bournemouth takes some beating ..
I’ll be there next year .. Oct 3-4th 2015 .. And yes there’ll be a beach hut again /)

Fiona Turton