#MEANDER TOURS ZOOM FULL#

Avoiding walkers, and runners, families, and cyclists. Me? I was just trying to manage the cold, the wind and the rain, having swapped my planned Brooklyn tee for base layer and gillet early doors. A guy even said he was feeling claustrophobic it was so busy. A 9 and a bit kilometre run along the tow path along the riverside, mostly on the path (starting very crowded and then finally evening out). A garbled 10 count and then we were off and down the tow path.Īnd that would be it, pretty much. The bags were not looked after, no one checked numbers or tags.Īnd then we were out, huddling under trees to shelter from the rain, before being called to the start for a mandatory race briefing that you couldn’t hear anyway. I had to write my number of a piece of gaffer tape and stick it around the handles. Some of the bibs did not have baggage tags on the bottom. The secure bag storage was actually tarpaulin on the floor, and not all bags were on it. The wind was up and the rain was torrential as we arrived. Despite changing rooms and toilets being available at the YMCA (the race HQ), everything happens in a marquis tent. So you need to get there and queue, and collect your bibs. It was horrendous! The race packs are not sent out (one negative point there). And, despite that it will probably cause endless fights, is now going to be my default type of applause. Looked at her mum and then said, “rainbow clap.” It was precious. Job’s a good ‘un.īefore that though was a train to Kingston, during which the most adorable little girl, maybe 3 or 4 at the outside, clapped her hands, then opened her hands out wide. Rather than travelling down on the day though, I decided on a hotel the night before, slap up Italian meal (including Tiramisu and Limoncello) and a fry up breakfast. It is also on a Saturday, so conceivably you could run a twofer weekend if you found something to run on the Sunday. The race starts at 10:30am, which is lovely, so a proper breakfast and a lie in is possible. Joined too by Sarah from the UKRUNCHAT unicorns (on the marathon comeback trail) and a couple of my wider circle of running guys.

#MEANDER TOURS ZOOM FULL#

Note: I had signed up for the full but would be joined later in the proceedings by London running buddy Jen Morris back from the Cirque du Soliel tour of Europe and South America and now ensconced in a new show in London, and so dropped down to the half for the sake of a casual bimble. So all I have this month is Thames Meander by Hermes Running. The route, a looooooong there and back, could involve at least some deviation.Īnd so this year, in a gap between a US trip and my 14 th marathon or above for the year, and Hurtwood 50K and 2 further marathons in December, with no other options selected, I have decide to finally run it. Citing UKAAF rules and arguing DQs is not needed. The route is not open to traffic, so you could allow the music. People will not mind about any of these things, but I see them as unnecessary.

And this is normally because, after signing up, or at least adding it to the list of possibilities, the things I do not like about the race surface and convince me otherwise: No music, a couple of water stops, and a long there and back route along the tow path that I have run loads of times. One of the seasonal runnings (they hold this event 4 times a year) gets pencilled in when I am drafting the next year’s calendar, but then it ordinarily gets replaced by something bigger, shinier, or overseas. A popular and well known event in these here parts it appeared on the race calendar as early as 2013 but an injury leading up to an aborted Berlin marathon put a stop to that. The Thames Meander Marathon and Half have often been a “nearly ran” for me.

Meander tours zoom