Run Falmouth Half Marathon

My first half marathon race took me down to Cornwall. It was the hilliest and toughest course I've ever run, but I'm proud to report I ran it all.

First half marathon race in the bag.

Why Falmouth

After a year spent 10k running around the UK, I wanted my first half marathon race to be epic in some way.

I thought going down to Cornwall would check that box. Because that would involve one incredibly long train ride. Even longer than Tenby. 

There were a few other options in the UK on the table, but my friend Jamie (who did the Anglesey run with me last year) wanted to join me on the run, and we agreed on Falmouth.

And just to convey how far Falmouth is away from Edinburgh, here's a screenshot of Google Maps I took while I was there. The blue dot is Falmouth.

Basically, Falmouth is very, very far away.

Racing in a pandemic

Before getting into the details of this trip, I have to acknowledge the elephant in the room: racing during a global pandemic.

It's something that's been making me feel quit nervous generally, and it felt unclear in the days leading up to the race whether it would be a good idea to go down.

So many races are being canceled or postponed, and I was wondering if it was going to be a last-minute decision to cancel Falmouth.

The race organizers emailed Tuesday to say it would go ahead.

I had fully expected the UK government to announce a national shutdown on Thursday as Ireland did. 

They didn't announce one. I was surprised at the decision, but it did mean there would be a train running for me to get down there.

Though, with the daily updates and changes, I worried about being able to return. 

I shared my concerns with Jamie who said if worst came to worst, he'd take me back home. He's a good friend to have.

Of course, though, there's a larger issue at hand beyond whether I can get a train and run a race. It's the risk of being around others who are infected during a time where you should self-isolate.

For this trip, my only real concern was the train ride - the fact that it was long in a confined space with strangers. When I got to Falmouth itself, I'd be on my own or with one other person. 

Yes, the race would have runners lined up close together a few minutes before the start, but once it starts, you spread out very quickly.

So yes, there were risks. But the growing concerns all seemed to be coming to a head in the days and even hours leading up to my train departing Edinburgh, making knowing what to do a difficult decision.

As this blog post shows, I did obviously go. I can say, though, that I was washing my hands and wiping down surfaces like crazy.

And this definitely looks to be my last trip (of any kind) for a while.

The journey

To get to Falmouth, I had to spend 11 hours between 3 trains (and connection times):

• Edinburgh to Plymouth: 8 hours and 37 minutes
• Plymouth to Truro: 1 hour and 34 minutes
• Truro to Falmouth: 20 minutes

I've always wanted to do the Edinburgh to Penzance Cross Country train ride, and Edinburgh to Plymouth was getting pretty close to it.

Over 8 hours on one train was a long time. I could definitely feel it. And I still had 2 trains to go after it. 

I had a scheduled 7-minute turnaround time in Plymouth. I thought it was very unlikely I would make it.

We were running 15 minutes late from Birmingham, but we somehow made up the time. We arrived at Plymouth only 2 minutes late, and the 2nd train had a delayed departure anyway.

The highlight of the train journeys was the coastal bit just after Exeter St David's. I was taking pictures non-stop.

The south coast is a pretty coast.

Taking pictures was also the way I got through such a long journey. I took a photo from each train stop and posted them into a thread on Twitter.

Edinburgh to Falmouth. All by train. Going to attempt to take a photo at each stop to keep me occupied for the next 11 hours. pic.twitter.com/en10reqRDE

— Lauren Tormey (@ltormey) March 13, 2020

I finally arrived in Falmouth just after 6pm in the pouring rain. Between the weather, the travel fatigue, and the impending darkness, I'd save any sightseeing for the next day.

Checking out Falmouth town and harbour

The weather was meant be cloudy Saturday, so I was pleased to wake up to some blue in the sky.

On my walk into town, I of course got excited when I first spotted water.

I see water and blue skies!

The Falmouth town centre was really cute with lots of nice-looking shops and bunting everywhere.

The start of the Falmouth high street.

I thought the desertion of the high street was pandemic-related until I remembered it was a weekend before 9am. Normal people sleep.

I walked to the Prince of Wales Pier where I was going to get a ferry to nearby St Mawes.

While I waited, I took in the views around the harbor.

Taking in the harbor views.

A ferry to St Mawes

I wanted to go to St Mawes because there's an English Heritage castle there, which meant 1) I get in for free with my Historic Scotland membership, and 2) I get to go on a boat. 

Again, I was reminded that people don't go out this early on a weekend (in winter) because I had the ferry to myself.

A ferry all to myself.

From the ferry, I caught some spectacular views of St Mawes Castle.

Castle view from the ferry.

St Mawes Castle

I got to St Mawes about 20 minutes before the castle actually opened, so I took a diverted route to get there.

St Mawes is a compact coastal town with narrow, steep lanes. The farther you walk up them, the prettier views you get. 

I saw someone on a swing on the beach across the way and got very jealous.

As I got closer to the castle, I could see Pendennis Castle in Falmouth across the way.

Pendennis Castle in the distance.

Being the early-bird explorer that I was, I had the castle to myself.

The castle view from land.

The first thing I noticed was the Cornish translations for titles in the information signs. 

Cornish translation of the title.

I was having a grand old time exploring around. It was a castle with lots of staircases and narrow passageways. No matter which way you went, you always seemed to end up somewhere new.

Prime water views from the castle.

At one point, I wasn't sure how to get out of the actual building into the green spaces. I took this opportunity to climb through the little windows that the cannons point out to.

It pays to be small when you need to sneak out a window.

I then ended up in a bit that felt like a maze, and I turned into a total child running around the grounds.

In full maze-like enjoyment mode.

I was on a time limit to catch the next ferry. But thankfully, I had enough time to stop and enjoy the turquoise water and sailing going on during my walk back to the pier. 

Water color = pretty.

Once back in Falmouth, I felt it necessary to get a Cornish pasty seeing as I was in Cornwall. 

I stopped by a bakery to grab one for lunch. I got sweet potato and feta. It was delicious.

Sweet potato and feta pasty.

Gyllyngvase Beach and Gardens

Having explored the town centre, it was time to explore the beachside of Falmouth.

By this time, the weather had turned to cloudy and rainy.

On the walk there, I discovered Gyllyngvase Gardens. This was an unexpected gem of a find.

They must do super cool stuff in this space in the summer.

My favorite bit were these shell seats. 

Shell seats: Seats. With Shells.

(When Jamie arrived later, I was so excited to show him these, but at that point, some local youth were using them to smoke pot. Stupid youth, ruining my favorite find.)

Then came the view of the beach. Even in the rain, it was glorious.

Gyllyngvase Beach. No, I don't know how to pronounce that.

And to the other side was Pendennis Castle on the hill.

Pendennis Castle on the hill.

I went on an extended walk along the cliff before heading up to check out the castle.

Along the way, I noticed there were so many entrances and staircases jutting off from the road to take you to the sea.

If you just want to step down to the sea, you can.

One of these included an entrance to walk in the woods. Between the rain and my previous woodland experiences, I decided it was best to stick to the main road.

Lauren should avoid the woods.

Pendennis Castle

Pendennis and St Mawes are practically sibling castles. They were both built to fend off Spanish and French invaders. 

Pendennis, though, is more like a complex and has been used throughout the centuries.

There was the Tudor Gun Tower.

Tudor Gun Tower.

It was a great vantage point for views of the beach.

Obligatory castle selfie.

And from the other side you could see St Anthony Lighthouse.

The little white thing is a lighthouse.

The Half Moon Battery was used during WWII.

Guns at the battery. Lots of weaponry on this trip.

There was a special tunnel to get there.

Squealed  with delight when I saw there was a tunnel to go through.

The Military Barracks had an exhibition on WWI.

Military Barracks.

It's also worth mentioning the toilets in the barracks had the world's longest flusher that required large amounts of upper body strength to use.

Maybe the toilets were meant to give soldiers an upper body workout?

Back to the beach and binge watching

I went to the train station to pick up Jamie. By this time, the sun had appeared. 

We went for a walk along the beach, which I now got to admire in the sunshine.

Photo credit to Jamie for this beautiful shot.

After a stroll into town, we decided to repeat the joy of our Angelsey trip: binge watching Netflix and carb-loading on pesto pasta.

This time we binged on 'Love is Blind', the new reality dating show where potential couples speak to but do not see each other until they decide they're in love and want to get married. Very normal.

Our respective coworkers had been talking about this show, but neither of us had seen it.

This was a fantastic show to watch with Jamie. He had the most visceral reactions to hearing strangers tell each other they had fallen in love with each other after a few days.

For me, it was like a more intense version of 'The Bachelor', a show which I have been faithfully watching for the past 12 years. 

The race

Sunday morning was cloudy with the rain holding off (mainly). We headed up to Pendennis Castle where the race registration was taking place.

We thankfully got there early enough to avoid any long queues.

Roaming the castle grounds before the start.

Waiting for the start

During the wait until start time, it started to drizzle, so we found a little covering alongside the cliff where we did our stretches.

Stretching his way to a PB.

Or rather, Jamie did stretches and I took a selfie.

Totally unaware of just how many hills I'm about to endure.

We then ventured out into the rain to line up at the start.

Ready to run.

The hills

Jamie and I had a plan to run together, but this didn't end up happening. He's too fast for me.

Knowing that this race was hilly, I was hoping to average 10-minute-per-mile pacing. 

I wasn't even half-way through before I realized that that wasn't going to happen.

There were hills EVERYWHERE. And not just little hills. Steep hills that seemed to go on forever.

People kept saying 'this hill is the worst one' or 'it's all downhill after this'. These people were liars.

The hills were tough, but I ran each and every single one of them. 

If anything, this cost me time. I would pass people who were walking up the hills who would then later pass me once they started running again.

But running up the hills became a point of pride and determination for me. 

There was this guy who recognized me as running up all the hills, and every time he passed me at the flatter bits, he said, "I'll see you when you pass me at the next hill".

That felt good to hear.

Running without headphones

This race banned headphones, so I couldn't use the playlist I made. 

I did wear my bone conduction headphones around my neck, though, so I could listen to Strava tell me my pacing every half mile. 

No music, though, meant this was probably the chattiest race I've ever had. 

Quite a few people I passed struck up conversation. And there were lots of 'well dones' being said among the runners.

If ever there was a race that needed encouragement, it was this one.

Puddles

For the most part, we lucked out with the weather. There was only one short bit during the race where it started properly raining.

However, rain from the previous days meant there were puddles in the area, and there was one point where a puddle (though more like a small pond) covered the entirety of the road.

I had no choice but to run through it. But it was such a tough realization to come to grips with because I had only brought one pair of shoes to Falmouth with me. That was a stupid choice.

I ran through it, and it was drying off as I was finishing off the race. 

But when I did finish the race, I was walking to collect my medal and distracted by uploading my run to Strava on my phone, not looking at the ground beneath me. I stepped in another puddle. 

I felt so stupid. 

Always bring a second pair of shoes is the lesson here. But I'm sure I will conveniently forget that.

What I was thinking about

Besides chatting, another part about running without music was all the thinking that was going on in my head during this race.

At every hill, I had a mental battle with myself about whether I should stop. The thing I had to keep reminding myself, though, was that this run would never be worse than the worst thing I've experienced in life.

Running is not the enemy. It's what I need to feel okay. And it's reminding myself of that that keeps me going.

Of course, I also think of more light-hearted things.

Just after mile 9, I was thinking about the fact that the sports bra I was wearing I bought with a Run4It gift card I got from my coworkers when I left my last job.

That's correct, my coworkers gave me a gift card, and I used it to buy what I believe is the world's sexiest sports bra.

And I wanted to thank those coworkers for providing such great support during a grueling run. So in my head, I went through each of their names and thanked every one of them.

And when I publish this post, I get to have the satisfaction of knowing that those coworkers who read this blog will feel very uncomfortable.

Just remember that y'all are so important to me, and I really do appreciate all the thoughtful leaving gifts you gave me.

The finish

I finished the race in 2:18:02. That's an average of 10:16 per mile, so over what I wanted, but considering the terrain, I was pleased I just ran the whole thing. 

Jamie was an absolute beast and finished over a half hour before me. So it's definitely good we didn't run together. That was a new PB for him.

We're smiling but we're tired.

It was a really inexpensive race, so I wasn't expecting anything other than a medal and a banana. 

Not a bad background for a medal shot.

But much to my surprise, there was a race goodie bag, which included a chocolate digestive bar and can of water, which was a bit different.

Curious to find out what it tastes like. Like water, I'm guessing.

Resting the legs

Not wanting to move our legs more than necessary, Jamie and I picked up where we left off on 'Love is Blind' before he went to get his train.

After saying goodbye to him, I walked over to the beach as I wanted to rest in the sun.

Beautiful, beautiful Falmouth.

I just sat with my feet up, overlooking the beach, and listened to some tunes before heading in for a quiet night.

Just chilling.

Saying goodbye to Falmouth

The next morning, as seems to be the tradition with all my coastal runs, I had to have a final wave goodbye to the water.

Not a cloud in the sky. Absolutely stunning.

Bye, Falmouth.

Next race

This is a big question mark for every runner at the moment. In the pandemic world, events are understandably getting canceled or postponed.

This includes 2 of my upcoming races, so I'm not sure what my next race will be.

All I know is I will continue to regularly run around Edinburgh, and I've also set a goal for myself to run a half marathon every month, whether a race or on my own.

So if it doesn't look like events are happening for a while, I might use this blog to recap those solo half marathon runs.