Tour of Merseyside - Day #4 Hale 5 Mile

Image owned by Mark Humphreys-Green

Today started with a bit of a melt down.  It was a shaky day, I couldn't focus and my head kept exploding whenever I tried to get it to do something.  Normally on days like this I stay on the sofa because it's embarrassing for people to see you on a bad day.  I get frustrated and anxious and I thought I wouldn't be able to run and so I didn't want to go to Hale but James talked some sense into me and then took me to the race.

We got to the race start and oh my, the costumes were so amazing.  I'm so glad I went because it was one of the funniest sights I have ever seen, those poor people of Hale and some of the guest runners didn't know what hit them.  Stan was Dorothy, Derek was some Zena Warrior Princess variation, we had ET, cavemen, a Pokemon, a lego man Paul, Dennis the Menice, Hoola girls, a old granny, quite a few supper heroes, 118 men and a couple of Baywatch babes who are perhaps in need of some tlc.  Men as women, women as men it was so so so very funny (I'm going to steal some photos to put at the end of this post, hope no one minds). 

Hale 5 mile route

The 5 mile race goes round in a big loop starting and ending in Hale.  It's pretty much 3 country lanes that take you back to the start and is a nice flattish and fast course. I really like this route so it's a shame that next year we'll have a new replacement.  There's issues with getting the police to support the race and so next year we'll be moving but we've been promised a flat loop course where we'll pass the other runners and finish at a pub but they're keeping quiet about where it will be at the moment.  Where ever it is I hope the fancy dress continues.  At this point in the week it's so nice to have dressing up to look forawrd to, it distracts you from the pain of the 29 miles already ran and the day off gives you lots of time to get your costume ready.  Alan, if you're reading thus, we'd really like an award for best costume too please.

Hale 5 Elevation

I ran today with Claire and Derek because I could feel that I was close to my illness starting and I didn't want to get ill trying to race .  Last time we raced here it was on a Sunday morning so it was quite quiet but there was a lot of cars today.  Most of the drivers were nice and cheered us on, some got a laugh out of seeing Supergirl, Zeena and an old granny running past.  There were a few miserable ones but the volunteers did an amazing job of keeping them under control.  It was quite warm, there was shade on some of the roads but we were very glad to see the water station at mile 3, especially when Ali ran to us to give us our water. Then it was just a nice slow steady two miles to the finish.  It was a lot of fun without any pressure, we just had a nice relaxing time but we still ran the whole way and we finished in just over an hour.  We got an added extra bonus medal too, they're left over from the last Hale 5 but it's pretty great because they have the stickers to put your time on the medal.  I need to finish the tour in under 10 hours now so that I can put my tour time rather than race time on it.

The pub finish was great because it gave everyone an opportunity to hang around, have a laugh and relax a bit.  Plus I finally got a chance to sample the ice cream.

I do not own any of the photos below.