On Sunday 26th April I completed the ABP Southampton Half Marathon for Southampton Hospital Charity & Beauty with a Purpose, alongside my wonderful partner Ian.

Here is my run down of the 13.1 miles…..

We started our half-marathon in the heart of Southampton city, in Hoglands Park. We ran past my old university, Southampton Solent University, before heading back towards town and glimpsing what will be the finish line in 13 miles time at Guildhall Square! Running through the town centre was electric, the sheer amount of people cheering us all on was unbelievable and made the first mile an absolute doddle!

Passing through Town Quay, I saw my good friend Molly leaning out of her flat window waving like a crazy person shouting my name.  It was so lovely seeing a friendly face and we soon sped round to Ocean Village. As I used to work here I loved this part and then we saw another friend, Andy, again leaning out of his window shouting at all of us to keep going. The atmosphere was amazing at this point!

We then reached our first water stop, and by this point I didn’t think I actually needed much and thought maybe it was a little early in the run to be watering up. That is until I turned the corner and saw the mammoth Itchen Bridge looming above us all. That bridge is so steep and so high, I was worried a) I’d stack it and end up a watery mess below in the river and b) I wouldn’t cope with the incline. Luckily neither happened and while it was the second biggest mental block I experienced, we did it without walking once!

Coming down the bridge was the best feeling in the world and my family were there to provide support and jelly babies as we turned into St Mary’s Stadium. There were some awesome volunteers here and the mascot was dancing away to keep us going. By this point my calves had taken a hit on the incline of the bridge, but they were coping well.

We now had another bridge to conquer, albeit a much smaller one. Crossing the Northam Bridge seemed too easy compared to the last one, and there was plenty of support this side of the river with local churches and shops offering drink and sweets and words of encouragement.

The next water station was in the middle of Riverside Park near Bitterne and this was a seriously entertaining station. They had an amazing band signing “Friday I’m in Love”, which is one of my favourite songs and considering this was the remote side of the city, the support here was HUGE. I have never received so many high fives in my life! We headed through the park, grabbed a quick energy gel which zapped us up, necked some jelly babies and raced through.

Now what I thought would be my comfort zone turned out to be the trickiest part. I’ve ran in Southampton Common plenty of times as I used to live next door and attended boot camp there. However, the winding paths meant we couldn’t see ahead how far we had left and it through me. Plus the support here was a little scarce as it is a little further out of the way of town. I started having a mini breakdown until Ian grabbed my hand, and pulled me along. Holding hands and running is actually easier than you think!

Once we were out of the woods we were on the home straight and my family once again popped up with some last minute jelly babies to fuel the last few miles. Straight down the Avenue onto London Road felt amazing, and once I saw the town centre again the feeling was incredible. The support on the home straight was astronomical and I couldn’t be more grateful to the people of the city for cheering us on until they were hoarse!

My mum quickly met us, sashed and crowned me for the finish line and hey presto, it was all over! I cried a little from exhaustion, emotion and just every happy feeling imaginable.

A quick McDonalds and lie down at home and I was back up again thinking of my next challenge. Honestly the adrenaline rush is addictive and I couldn’t be happier!

Thank you to the Southampton community, the mile makers, the marathon organisers and all my friends and family. Donations are numbering £1,900 now and I am so grateful! Any more can be made here.

P.S Straight after the race we supported Kidney Research UK by #GoingPurple by wearing the colour purple for the charity. Find out more here.