Brighton 10k

I've got a new 3rd (though arguably 2nd) best 10k time, and Brighton is my new favorite English city.

Finally, a fast race in England.

Why Brighton

Brighton was on my list of places to see. I also wanted to do a race on the south coast, and Brighton had the cheapest train tickets compared with other nearby coastal cities (by a weirdly large amount). 

There was a bit of a booking panic signing up to this race. I had known I wanted to do this 10k since the start of the year, but when I went to book my place during the summer, the website said it was no longer holding the race.

I'm not entirely sure what went on, but it looks like there was some sort of miscommunication between the local athletics club and the company running the race. 

Long story short, the race company was no longer involved, and the athletics club had to put together plans for this race with only 3 months to go.

But it all worked out in the end, clearly.

The journey

Again, another weird booking issue. I usually book train tickets 3 months in advance when they go on sale, but for the longest time, I was only seeing tickets via the west coast line (which is a lot longer than the east) for the Saturday trip down.

With 2 months to go, I finally booked the west coast tickets, not wanting to risk higher prices. Only the day before traveling did I learn that there was some maintenance work happening on the east coast line that would have made the journey the same time as the west.

On the way down, I had a change over at Crewe (oh, the memories!). I stayed in the station this time, but basically walked up and down the platforms to get some steps in after 3 hours of sitting

The next train took me down to London Euston. Once in the capital, I got to re-experience the joy of navigating the tube on my own before hopping on my final train.

All in all, it took nearly 8 hours between leaving my house and getting to Brighton. It was a long day.

Brighton in the dark

For the first time during these trips, I arrived in the dark. I didn't want this to be the case, but it was a lot of hours of travel and the later departing trains were cheaper.

Even in the dark, though, Brighton gave off good vibes the second I walked out of the train station. It just seemed cool.

Brighton getting into the holiday spirit.

It kind of reminded me of Edinburgh in the sense that there was a lot going on, but it feels like a small town. Just a lot more hipstery. 

Where the dark was less good was when I got to the entrance of Queen's Park which Google Maps said was the quickest way to walk through to my Airbnb. But I ultimately decided not to go through a pitch black park in an unfamiliar city.

I never ended up walking in the park during the day.

Hipster vegan pizza

I knew for a couple of months where I wanted to go for my dinner in Brighton: Purezza - a vegan pizza joint.

Why was I so keen to go here? I read a news article a couple of months ago about how one of their staff members got stopped in an airport because they thought he was smuggling drugs. It turned out to be vegan cake mix.

'Huge drugs bust' at Gatwick turns out to be vegan cake mix (The Guardian)

Amused by this story, I wanted to pay it a visit. It did not disappoint. I actually ended up getting a cheesesteak calzone, which looked huge, but my stomach most readily accommodated all of it. 

Shame you can't see the beautiful caramelized onions that were inside it.

And to make it more hipster, they put the bill in a folder paper hat/boat-looking thing.

That's one way to recycle.

And the gender neutral toilets were of course marked accordingly.

It does take a second to work out what you're looking at, but it's definitely on-brand.

To the pier

My late arrival didn't leave much time for sightseeing on day 1, but I figured Brighton Pier would be a good place to check out all lit up.

Brighton Pier all lit up.

And the views of the city all lit up were pretty cool, too.

The city from the Pier.

I walked all the way to the end of the pier in the dark, in the rain, with almost no one around. I found this experience pretty cool and eerie all at the same time.

Especially walking past the empty amusement park rides in the dark. That's something you don't normally get to see. But abandoned roller coasters and dodgems are right up my alley, apparently.

Nobody riding the rollercoaster at this late hour.

Guest appearance by my shadow.

When I got to the very end of the pier, it was absolutely pitch black looking out into the horizon.

If you can't see anything, that's the point.

At this point, it seemed appropriate to take a selfie of creeper Lauren enjoying her time in the dark, rainy night.

Creeper Lauren - one of the many Laurens.

On my way back to my accommodation, I passed the Brighton zipline attraction, which looks pretty nifty all lit up as it changes colors.

Brighton Zip in the middle of its changing rainbow light sequence.

When I got back to my Airbnb, I heard my hosts watching Independence Day in their living room. These people got my approval.

The race

Seeing it all in the daylight

When I got down to the seafront the next morning for the race, I had a chance to take in all the sights I saw yesterday now in the daylight.

The Pier in the daylight.

It definitely baffled me how Brighton can be as popular a beach destination as it is when instead of sand, it's all rocks. I managed with sneakers, but I can't imagine that works well with flip flops.

At least rocks are less messy than sand.

Toilet musings

The pre-race toilet situation was surprising in two ways. First, in some weird twisting of the universe, it was the men's, not ladies' room, that had a long queue outside it.

Secondly, the women of Brighton must be really tall because the public toilets at the beach we were using had the bag hook behind the door so far up it, I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach it.

Why you outta my reach, bag hook??

Waiting in the cold

It was about 44F out with no wind and rain, thankfully. However, that didn't make the 20 minute gap between handing in my coat and the start any easier. 

I and everyone else was doing a little cold dance. It at least made for a good conversation starter with fellow runners also shivering. 

No greater motivation to run than the cold.

The flat and coastal effect

The race itself was entirely along the coastline and very flat. This is usually the key to success for me, and this held true in Brighton.

With my 1st mile 8:56, I knew this would be a fast race, but not as fast as Ayr. I felt like I was going to throw up after finishing at Ayr, and I definitely didn't want to regurgitate my calzone in Brighton.

It wasn't the most exciting race in terms of it really just being a straight line out and back, but I enjoyed getting to discover the sites around the coastline as I ran past them for the first time.

I finished the race in 57:22, so my 3rd best 10k after Anglesey. However, my average pace was actually quicker in Brighton and Strava says it was 6.3 miles, so a bit longer than a 10k.

But I'll stick with official times and call this my 3rd best. It also upholds my theory about what makes for a PB for me. Clearly, it was the lack of running buddy and period for me (again, you're welcome for this bit of information).

That's the medal?

It was a reasonably priced race, so I guess I shouldn't have been expecting a great swag bag. But I must say, what a cheap medal I got. It is so much more flimsy compared with the others.

Little baby medal.

I did appreciate being given a full bottle of water and banana though, as a opposed to cups and slices.

Royal Pavilion

After my post-race shower, I wasn't ready for a full meal, but I had passed a gelato place the night before called La Mucca Nera that looked pretty good. 

I actually wasn't impressed with their gelato selection on the day and opted for a cappuccino mini tart, which was yummy.

It's as cute as it is tasty.

One of the oddities of Lauren - I will not drink coffee, but it's fine in dessert form.

Having reached my sugar fill, I made my 1st non-food stop to visit the Royal Pavilion, a former royal residence modeled on the Taj Mahal.

That group ended up asking for me to take their photo. Should have known.

The inspiration definitely shows. Its unlike any building you'd expect to find in Britain. 

There are nice gardens to stroll around on the property.

They had an ice skating rink at the side of it (spoiling a prime photo angle!). This amused me because on the run I saw people playing beach volleyball at the shore.

Why not follow your ice skating with some beach volleyball? 

So this is a city that can simultaneously cater to winter and summer sports.

Revisiting the race sites

There were some interesting sites along the race route I wanted to revisit to snap a photo of.

In all my apparent creepiness, I was most taken by West Pier, which closed in 1975, but it's really only been in the last 20 years that it's fallen into disrepair and been demolished.

West Pier has seen better days.

It's quite an eerie structure now just sitting in the middle of the sea.

Nearby there's also the British Airways i360, which is Brighton's equivalent of the Space Needle.

The British Airways branding makes it sound less appealing.

While walking the shore, I couldn't believe how busy it was for November. Even the little shop huts were open for business. 

No such thing as the off-season in Brighton.

The Lanes

I then went to check out the Lanes, which are in fact a bunch of narrow lanes with interesting shops.

One of the many lanes in the Lanes.

I didn't buy anything, but had this been 15 years earlier, I would have most certainly gotten something for my sister from The Duck House - a shop solely dedicated to rubber ducks.

This was maybe 1/3 of the inventory.

As I started to move myself away from the center of town, I grabbed a vegan sausage role at this place called Bread & Milk. This was false advertising, though, because it seemed to just be filled with potatoes.

Where's my fake sausage??

Preston Rock Garden

Not knowing where to go next, I googled 'things near me' and decided on Preston Park.

On the walk there, I passed a pub called The Edinburgh, which I needed to take a photo of, naturally.

It's the same feeling I get when I see anywhere in the UK claiming to be a NY restaurant. 

I also then realized I was walking through the district home to the only Green Party member of Parliament when I saw all the Re-elect Caroline Lucas signs.

It makes for minimal design choices when your party name is a color.

When I got to the park, it actually wasn't all that interesting. But across the street is the Preston Rock Garden, which is.

This garden rocks.

It's a bunch of rocky features on the side of a hill that you walk up. 

View from the bridge in the Garden.

I found it fun to walk through.

Like a little obstacle course!

And you know I find it fun when I stop for a selfie.

Preston Rock Garden's newest fan.

Heading back toward town, I had to walk along Lovers Walk, which I must say is probably one of the least romantic streets in Brighton.

Feel this street name could be better placed elsewhere in town.

The bustling Brighton seafront

With sunset approaching, I decided to do one more walk along the seafront.

On the way, I passed an Indian grocery store. They had paneer samosas, which sounded really good, but they were sold out.

I opted for a spicy potato ball, which as soon as I was handed it, I remembered I had that potato roll earlier. So it was a very potato-y day.

Saturday Creeper Lauren, Sunday Potato Lauren.

Once at the shore, I saw the Bandstand. I second-guessed if I could actually walk on it because absolutely no one was doing so.

The Bandstand.

But I went ahead onto the Bandstand to take a picture of the pink sky.

The sun getting ready to set.

I enjoyed watching a flock of birds over the West Pier.

You might have to zoom, but there are a ton of birds flying around.

I came across the Upside Down House. Not the most prototypical tourist attraction you expect on a beach.

Upside Down House.

There were these cool lit-up columns.

Columns for the sake of columns.

People were still playing beach volleyball.

Truly a sport for all seasons.

Amusement rides were still going at the Pier.

Not dark enough to shut the rides yet.

And by the time it was dark-dark, the sky had a cool purple hue to it.

One day I will take better nighttime photos.

I ended the day going to see the new rom-com Last Christmas and had myself a good laugh when the term 'probate' was uttered at the most pivotal scene. 

I've started doing consultancy for a death company, so it seems I can't escape work ever, even at the cinema.

By the time I got back to the Airbnb, I had done 45,069 steps, a new record.

Saying goodbye

I woke up Monday morning to sunny skies after a cloudy and rainy weekend. Wanting to experience the beach in the sunlight, I headed down for my final walk to the sea.

Sunny Brighton.

I really like Brighton. I want to go back. Especially in the summer. I could take a dip in the sea and make my back super uncomfortable lying on those rocks. Bliss.

Bye, Brighton! I'll miss you!

Oh, and I of course had to stop at an Italian bakery on the way up to the train station for some cookies. I had a long journey ahead.

There is no Italian bakery I will not stop in.

Next race

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