I still hadn’t figured out my deal with sleep. And I still hadn’t even made it to Liverpool.
(Kind of everything was done at the last minute with this trip. My Liverpool hotel was literally booked while on the train from Manchester.)
Was I gonna stay in Manchester and go in the morning, or go to Liverpool the night before? Ultimately, I just stayed in Manchester and went in the morning. I checked into my hotel, and even had time to grab a little breakfast there before heading over across the street to get my bib.
There seemed to be pretty big increased security (because of the bombing in Northern England earlier that week).
So it took a while to get everyone into the expo, but I think everyone got in… and there was a second start of the 5k, I think half an hour later. So even if people didn’t get in quite in time, they could still do the race.
After bib pickup, I headed to the start. There was a moment of silence for the bombing victims and in this crowd of sooo many people, you could hear [what’s a more original way to say you could hear a pin drop? ‘Cause that’s what you could hear.]
As far as the race itself, I don’t have a lot to write home about. I just finished without falling asleep, so I call it a win.
You got to end running into a stadium which was pretty fun!
Before the race, you could only pick up your 5k bib, and you had to go back afterward for your marathon or half bib. So, after the race, I did that.
I had accidentally signed up for the full marathon, and thankfully they let me go down to the half. (I’ve heard there can be way more issues with this in the international races, but it was all cool.)
However, they let me keep the full bib, which came in handy the next day… but… I’ll talk about that tomorrow!
The funniest/cutest thing I saw here was a hen party (that’s what they call a bachelorette party in jolly ol’ England). The group was all dressed up and they pushed a cart (like a baby stroller) that was full of alcohol they could drink throughout the course ?
And they would stop and dance to the bands. It was very cute.