Boscombe Quarter Marathon

By the time I had got to this race I had already done 8 miles. After registering for the race I did another 1 mile run to warm up again along the first part of this race. I thought I was seeing things as I saw some goats grazing on the cliff side.



I then got ready for this race luckily I had a spare kit with me after doing the first race and extra miles in the cold.

The route was an out and back going out along the promenade for about 2.5m then a 1 m loop around part of the far end of the town before a 3 mile run back along the cliff top road.



The turn point is somewhere in the distance.



The first 2 miles were flat an in to a slight headwind that was cold, I had lost count how many beach huts we had gone past.



By the time I got to 2 miles I was starting to suffer with the miles already done including the faster pace parkrun and fast first mile in this race. When we got to about 2.5m there was the turn point, you could hardly see the start from here.



This went up a slight incline which felt a lot bigger on to the loop section. I took this opportunity to walk to give me legs a bit of rest and have a gel. I then got going and back in pace for the loop.



At 3 miles there was an water station I was more interested in the chip shop across the road (went back post race).



There was a few inclines on this section which felt tougher with the miles already done.

I had then assumed the cliff top road would be flat like the promenade section. However it was either undulating or always an incline.


The pace was starting to take its tool but I was managing to keep the pace with overtaking some other runners who were suffering more than me, during this 3 mile section nobody overtook me.

You could judge how far from the finish you were by seeing how close the pier was, as you had to run to the pier entrance and back about 100m along the promenade. Luckily the last 1/4 mile was all downhill and fairly steep in places.



The issue was at the bottom of the hill near their pier you had to turn left while missing the bollards and other street furniture plus pedestrians.



There was also a brass band playing on the roundabout near the finish, they should have played the rocky theme.



You can see my pace getting slower for the first 3 miles before leveling out a bit and increasing on the down hill section near the end.



Still not a bad mornings work I got 2 PB’s and 15.5 miles ran all before midday :-)


As recovery I had my normal post run nutrition plus a hot cross that we got for finishing the race (along with yet another medal) and walked a few miles along seafront and pier while taking some photos.

Walking back up the stairs to the car park was interesting after all these miles.



By the time we finished the sun was even trying to shine through the clouds.