I’m delighted to report that I successfully completed the Southport Half Marathon on July 6th, although I have to say that it was the toughest run so far, with extremely hot temperatures and not a hint of a breeze at all. The run itself was great, although my favourite parts were those which ran through town and the park areas around the lake, where there was a lot of support from spectators.

The hardest part was the long stretch south along a quiet road with an embankment which helped maximise the temperature, and for three miles the only thing I saw was a dead pigeon. Honestly, I’m not responsible. I didn’t even have my laser blaster with me, and even if I had, do you really think as a stormtrooper I’d have come close to hitting it?

It was at about the half way point that I really started to struggle because the heat was tremendous. Although I had applied the usual treatment to the visor to stop it from fogging up, the heat and humidity was too much, and the visor quickly fogged up so that I couldn’t see a thing. In fact for 5 miles I was running so blind I didn’t even see the two water stations I passed!

Fortunately it was at this stage that a gorilla caught up with me. As happens in races like this. The gorilla in question, the only other person running in costume, was Chris Welsby, and I’d really like to mention here how valuable having his support was. Chris and I ran the entire second half of the half marathon together, and we kept each other going. We were both struggling, but by chatting about various things and offering encouragement to each other we kept going.

Chris, the gorilla, was running for Jenson’s Twinkle Stars, a non-profit organisation in St Helens in memory of the founder’s baby boy, Jenson Rigby. The charity raises awareness of stillbirth and neonatal deaths in memory of little Jenson, and offers help and support to bereaved children who have suffered the loss of a sibling in infancy, or the loss of a loved one.

The charity is amazing, and meeting Chris, and running with him, was for me the highlight of the Southport Half Marathon. I was proud to cross the finish line with him, and our picture made it into the local papers and around the web.

Please take a moment to visit Jenson’s Twinkle Stars’ website: http://www.jensonstwinklestars.co.uk, and also please ‘Like’ them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/JensonsTwinkleStars.

Thanks Chris, and well done. Thank you too to everyone who supported us, and for a great day. I have to say though that I don’t think I stopped drinking all afternoon!

Here are a few photos from the day:

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