Waiting for the announcement brought out the exact same nail-biting feelings as waiting for exam results to come out. And when it came out, myself and the other 25,000 runners felt the same crushing heartbreak (apart from David, who was relieved he didn’t have to run 10 miles).
During the week leading to the race, myself and everyone involved were obsessively checking at least 3 different weather sources hoping that they would tell us ‘clear skies and minimal wind.’ Instead, it was ‘75% rain and 40 mph winds.’ Hello Storm Ashley.
The most disappointing part of it was that over the past few months, myself and 17 other members (and partners) of the Oncology Department had been training for this race, raising money for the local hospice, Rowans. We initially only had a handful of runners in the department and managed to build up a hearty bunch of people encouraging each other, sharing the pains and joys of each run. Experiences varied from zero running to semi-elite superstar. As the days and weeks went by, you could hear chatter in the office of distances met or PBs achieved whilst training. We had a little WhatsApp group chat with nothing but running and fundraising talk, sharing victories and disappointments. There was exciting chatter when we got our bibs and the waves we were in. When the running vests came in, we all complained about how they were all a size too big!
Plans of pre-race photo ops and an afterparty all slowly crumbled when we all got the message that the race was cancelled as the organisers could not deliver a safe race due to the storm, understandably. Gutted. David and I were already on our way to Surrey when we saw this. We were heading that way to drop kids off then back to Southsea for the race the following day.
Race day… no second thought. I woke up, had a coffee and a banana, then laced up. The rain didn’t start yet – I figured if I go now, I might just miss it. Kate, another colleague was up and already on the road. One by one, we woke up and showed up. With some of us not having and running experience to heroically battling the wind, rain, and mud on race day. We raised over £5000! Team Onc JustGiving page for the Rowans Hospice
What I wasn’t ready for and didn’t train for was the Surrey Hills. I started off comfortably, possibly under 6min/km but slowly realised that I was committing myself go down Coulsdon Hill which only meant that I had to go back up it again. Of course, I had to do it. But my legs were on fire when I got back up and it took me a slow 5k run and a Lucozade to recover. Hit several walls but powered through. Back up the hill, I was running towards my usual route, the Kenley Aerodrome when I hit 10 miles (16 km) at 1hr 53mins – blame it on the hills. I had to keep going because I was meant to do 23 km for training. Stopped short at 21.1 km (half marathon).
Back in Southsea, the storm raged on and many runners still completed the distance. In other parts of the world, one of my best friends ran the Tokyo Half Marathon and my cousin ran the Toronto Half Marathon! Also why I ran a half marathon so I could be with them in spirit. I am super proud of both of them!
Even if the event fell apart at the last minute, what came out of it has been truly inspiring and it has been one heck of a team building exercise!
The Rollover or Refund email for The Great South Run 2025 has now come through (Rollover for myself and David). They also included that we can claim and shirt and a medal for this year’s efforts (yes, please).
Next up, the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon in December, Tokyo Marathon in March, and Edinburgh Marathon in May.
Reach for the Seven Stars 