Antalya Half Marathon

It had been ages since I'd caught up with my old friend Eleanor (probably Martha's Vineyard last year) as she now lives in Turkey for half the year, so when she suggested I meet her over there for a few days (clearly including a run), I jumped at the chance (how can you not go when flights are £40-45?) and dragged Lisa (a friend from Eleanor's old running club) along with me.

Heading up to registration 

on the roof!!

I very rarely get ill, but unfortunately I somehow managed to pick up a nasty cold/flu-like illness several days prior to going (luckily it was pre-Corona so I didn't have any issues about getting tested/self isolating) and wasn't even sure about flying. The power of Lemsip got me through the journey though I wasn't expecting it to be cold and wet on my arrival into Antalya. It certainly ensured we didn't hang around at race registration long (it was on the rooftop of a shopping centre) as we swung by there on our way from the airport to our AirBnB.

Between terrible traffic meaning we ate late. and feeling ill, I was ready for my bed rather than socialising that night.....and had to apologise to Lisa for all my coughing, snorting, spluttering and snuffling (luckily she was very understanding and realised how bad I was feeling). If anything I felt worse the next morning as I'd hardly slept but Eleanor talked me into running......or starting the race at least.....as there was no pressure to "perform" and I could always stop. 

Fortified by porridge (and extra Lemsip for me) Lisa and I bid farewell to Eleanor and her partner David (they were running the 10K which started 30minutes later) and headed to the half marathon start line. It was very crowded and unfortunately we couldn't understand any of the announcements but we could feel the reverberations of the speakers going through our bodies which was a very odd sensation. 

Although we were several rows away from the frontline, there was still quite a crush of people but Lisa was well aware of my fear of trampling so offered to be my bodyguard (and I did ensure we started ahead of the guy with a buggy 😂). Even though we started up a long gradual drag, people did still sprint off, but at least it meant that the field spread out really quickly so I could wind my way amongst people and get into my own rhythm. 

The marina of the Old Town

A sharp 90 degree to the right, then one to the left and we were running along the main road above the cliffs towards the old town. I could see some ladies (one of whom was wearing Ukranian national strip) running quite a long way ahead of me, but they didn't seem to be extending the gap.....in fact it seemed to be gradually shrinking. As we wound through the town round corners and up and down gentle slopes I gradually reeled them in and had moved ahead by the 4 mile mark, though I had no idea who was further up the road.

Our course was an out and back one, so initially I just thought about running a 1/4 marathon. I had started to catch marathoners (who'd started well before us and were obviously going twice the distance before turning) but expected to see the leading men coming back towards me by the time I got to the 5-5.5mile region. Strangely enough I'd covered over 6 miles before spotting the lead bike and a group of 3 guys. Even more surprising to me was the fact that by the time I turned around the marshals and cones in the road, no women had been on the return leg. 

Not only did I run a decent pace,

but I even "stretched" afterwards

I knew I'd been going at a decent pace, but when I looked at my watch as I turned (I wanted to clock the time before the next lady passed on her way to turn) I was surprised to see that despite my cold/cough/sleep deficit, I was running better than I had for a while. Never one to be overly positive, I wondered how far back towards the start/finish I'd get before it all caught up with me! The Ukranian lady passed when I'd run about 45 seconds of the return leg, so although she definitely looked younger and speedier than me, I figured that meant I'd gained 90s on her in the last 2.5 miles so there was a chance I'd manage to stay ahead even with a significant fade.

The "focussed" look (?"inpain"look)

It was actually lovely to run back past everyone coming the other way on the other side of the road (well, except for those that had strayed across the road...and the random people who strode out to take photos of their mates etc without expecting people to be coming the other way) as there was a lot of support and I felt the love. I was looking out for Lisa and it gave me a boost to see her nip across the people running near her to give me a shout as "first girl".....and to see her looking strong and relaxed as she ran.

As I ran back towards the old town again I saw one of the Nurgalieva twins out for a run....I'm not sure if she recognised me from Comrades all those years ago but I gave a smile and a wave anyway. I gradually moved up a couple of places on men that had started faster than me but there was one the definitely didn't want to be "chicked". As I'd caught him up, it was obvious that there was a difference in our relative speeds but everytime I tried to go past, he'd speed up, bump me with his elbows/hands etc. and push me wide on every corner. I admit to getting rather frustrated

Eleanor and David post-10K

and so had to put an unwelcome burst in just to get away cleanly back into my own space.

I saw the 10k runners heading down into the old town to my left but luckily our return route was slightly different to theirs as we just had to retrace our steps back to the start (Eleanor later told me that it had been rather narrow on those winding streets). As I entered the last couple of miles I was back parallel to the 10k runners but on the opposite side of the central reservation so I vainly tried to spot Eleanor's vest (I'm not sure why I even tried as I had no idea how either of us was running....pace wise).

The seafront stretch is nicer when walking along

it after a beer or two :-) 

That stretch along the seafront/cliff top seemed to go on forever but I still had a couple of men drawing me along as I gained on them. Finally I got to the initial 1km marker (and hence knew I had 1k to go) and split from the 10k route again. They continued straight ahead to their finish whereas I did the 90 degree turn to the right, up a slope and then turned left into the finishing straight. Although I knew this was downhill (from the uphill start) I had forgotten the length of it so couldn't actually see the finish gantry for ages.

Finally it came into sight and I picked up the pace (or at least tried to) for my "glory finish". In the end it was rather a non event as there was no tape to break, no one to confirm to me that u had been the first female across the line, just a medal to get from a marshal and then the medics to visit (my shoes had nicely rubbed my heels so one was red raw and the other one was nicely bleeding). 

Prize of a free race entry (not

not due to Covid-19)

Lisa's fab finish

At least I had time to then find some water and go retrieve our bags (randomly meeting Eleanor who'd just finished and so was picking up their bags) before making it back to the start in time to photograph Lisa finish. She High-5 ed a couple of kids in the finish funnel as she didn't think she'd run well (even stopping to walk briefly) but was over the moon when she saw the clock and my photo of her crossing the line with it in the picture, as she was a good couple of minutes under her target time.

Repping the Ripley vests - with our medals

All in all, we'd had a successful day out.....Lisa under her target, me with my fastest HM for several years (though I did feel so rubbish later that I had to go to bed whilst the others had a celebratory meal), Eleanor with a good confidence-boosting first race in months, and David finishing his first ever running race!