Review: Winchester Half Marathon

Last weekend, I ran the Winchester Half Marathon. It had been three days since I was back in the UK.

The weather back in the UK is completely different from what I had been used to in Tokyo. It is drier and cooler, making it ideal for me to run. Plus, I moved to Battersea area, and there are plenty of runners always coming by, strolling down by the Thames and going to the Battersea Park. It's a really ideal place to run, especially right now when the temperature hasn't dropped too much.

For me though, I have had to acclimatize. Since my runs have been done in hot, humid weather, my heart rate has to adjust to the new climate. It actually has been a bit uncomfortable to run in.

So Winchester Half Marathon - it was the second one ever held in one of the most charming towns in England. The place is famous for Winchester College and Roman history. It's also extremely hilly. I knew about it, but I know that people were very put off by it. To be honest though, whenever you sign up for a race, you should always check the course. I know it was going to be difficult, but I wanted to push myself.

The first two miles were all uphill. It was fine, honestly, since I trusted my body. There was another stretch of uphill right in the middle, which was also difficult, but I made it.

What slowed me down however, was my injury. I woke up with a pain in my left hamstring, which was not pleasant. But I was definitely not in the mood to not run. I still finished it in under two hours at 1:58, though it was 10 minutes slower than my last one. Perhaps it was my GPS watch, but I guess since it was so hilly, my GPS watch told me I ran less than 21.1 km. My official time was 1:58.

Winchester course is really boring apart from the hills, especially considering that Liverpool was extremely fun. Since the majority of the course is the countryside, it gets really mundane. There are also little spectators once you get to the greenery. The city center though, as far as I can see, was really gorgeous. I wish I got to explore more.

I really liked how well the star tline was organized. No waiting around for people. The pacers were present. But they forgot to email me pins... Because it is a smaller race, it had a more intimate feeling. The T-shirt and the medal are both really well designed!

Start line

Pacers at the beginning

I probably won't run the race again, but I like the idea of running different races all over these smaller towns in the UK. Hopefully, I'll get to see more of the countryside through more running in the future!

Next up: Bucharest Half Marathon!

#race #travel #uk #england #running