Waiting  to start the race was quite interesting as the bloke in front of me took off  his bin liner to reveal his shaven body in a thong - that woke me up!!  The start of the race was very crowded and in fact it didn't really thin out until the half-way point.  Determined to finish ahead of Paul, I gave myself neck ache from spending the first 7 miles looking over my shoulder to check that he was behind me until at last I couldn't see him!  The race is completely flat which, after Truro, was brilliant, but turning into Southsea seafront at 8 miles was where the hard work started as we were running into the wind and rain.  They were my slowest two miles but I was pleased to finish in 1.17.02 which was 7 minutes quicker than when I ran it three years ago.  I must be doing something right!  Paul came in at 1.18.28, his quickest time for 10 miles, and Sandy finished in a brillant 1.39.02.

 I would recommend the Great South Run to anyone who wants a flat course.  There's a great atmosphere, plenty of bands and supporters and the shopping at Gunwharf Quays is excellent!

                                                           Karen Harrison

Laura writes:

There I was enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning on my girls weekend in Portsmouth, it was chucking it down outside and inside we were warm and cosy - gossiping, drinking tea and eating chocolate biscuits!  So you can imagine my friends' faces when I said 'Can we go into Southsea to watch my friend Sandy in the Great South Run?'  They had visions of four years ago when, on a girls weekend in London, I made them miss 3 vital shopping hours to watch the London Marathon (they ended up enjoying themselves eventually!!!).

As the race had started half an hour before we had to get a move on so with grumbling all round we piled into the car and drove down into Southsea where we soon spotted the race coming round a corner at the 7.5 mile point.  Luckily for them there was a pub right there so they decamped into the pub (miserable sods!) and, in a borrowed coat, two sizes too small, I set myself up on the corner to wait for Sandy.  I was reliably informed by a fellow spectator that there were 18000 runners and it was pretty hard to spot anyone in particular with the wind and rain in my face.  Sandy had told me that Karen Harrison was running but I failed to spot her, even though our vests are extremely visible in the melee, so sorry Karen, I missed you!! 

I nearly missed Sandy as well - I was just looking at my watch and doing some quick mental arithmetic and said to my neighbour 'she should be here soon if she's on track', when I looked up to see Sandy straight ahead of me - she was in disguise - charity vest, no baseball cap and hair flowing loose (although a bit bedraggled!).  Anyway, as she veered towards me we had a hug in the middle of the road, probably shaving a few seconds off her eventual brilliant time.  So WELL DONE SANDY, you did fantastically well and I might even join you next year!!