When I woke up on Sunday 18th November, it was very early, before 6 am, I could see that it was going to be a windy cold day. However, the previous day, it had been better, a bit cloudy but not windy or too cold. I had arrived at Gatwick airport expecting to have a drink with Andy. However, Andy insisted on giving me a lift to Brighton. I tried to persuade him to just have a drink near the airport and I would take a train or coach to the seaside town but he wanted to take me to the city of Brighton. We had a good time in the car listening to the instructions that the gadget gave him since he thought it would be more interesting to go along secondary roads. I really enjoyed the landscape and the narrow roads. After getting to Brighton and thanking him for driving me there we said see you tomorrow. Later, I phoned Sweder and we met at his town railway station. He took me home where I met his wife, son and pets. We had a good time in their cosy house where I had a herbal tea and learnt that Israel had beaten Russia, which gave hope for England qualification. Unfortunately, they couldn´t beat or draw Croatia on Wednesday. We went to a local pub where we had a couple of pints of local beer and met Captain Tom. It is wonderful that it is forbidden to smoke in pubs. The air is so good.
On Sunday, I went for a walk early along the seafront towards the city centre. I saw the pier and other interesting places. On my way back, I went to the start and tried to help set up the arch but it was impossible. It was too windy. After having a big breakfast at the hotel, I went for another walk and reached the majestic Royal Pavilion. It is impressive. Afterwards, I went back to the race stands where I was given an envelope with my race number and chip.
I went to the race start, twenty minutes before the race where I met Sweder. We met captain Tom, who kept our bags and we went to the start. Sweder met Captain Tom´s wife and after introducing us, he looked for his position in the 45 minute group and we looked for the 55 minute group. There, I met Rockhammer. I was very glad to see him since we didn´t know if he could finally come. We started together. The first kilometre was slow since there were too many people. When we were about to turn back, I started to go a little faster and didn´t see Nigel among so many people. When I was reaching the start line again, I saw Andy. We greeted each other. It is a pity he couldn´t take part this year due to his knee injury. I went on along the sea front on my own. I saw a lot of runners from different clubs, especially the Habakkuk harriers. I tried to reach a runner who was a few metres ahead. I managed to reach one but I couldn´t keep her pace for long. Anyway, I noticed that my pace wasn´t bad. I thought I could finish under 60 minutes, especially when I reached the point where we had to turn back. I saw km 6.5. It was the first km marker I noticed. A little bit after that, I heard Rockhammer encouraging me. I went on and one kilometre ahead, Rockhammer reached me. We went along together but I decided to go a little bit faster and wave Rockhammer to catch me up. However, he seemed to say that I should go ahead but I told him I´d love to get to the finish together. Finally, we arrived together and putting his arm up. We took out the chip and got our well deserved medal. We had done 53´59´´ real time. Although I had thought it was a PB for me, I´ve seen that I did the Almería port 10 kilometre in 53 minutes last April. There, we met Sweder, who had arrived 10 minutes earlier, Captain Tom and Andy who congratulated us. We also met Roger from the Habakkuk runners who took a photo of us with several cameras.
Afterwards, we had a good time at Al Fresco Italian restaurant with Sweder´s wife and daughter, Andy´s wife, Moleyman, Sweder, Andy, Rockhammer and myself. The meal was great although it started to rain and got wet on our way to a café where Rockhammer, Andy, Sweder and I had some drinks.
After that, Rockhammer picked Sweder and me up and took me to my hotel where I collected my baggage and took us to Sweder´s house. After thanking them for their kind hospitality, Sweder took me to the railway station where I got on a train to London
