The Ipswich Half Marathon was held in the town on Sunday. Matthew Earth got the chance to take part and was wowed by the crowds.
I've been running for several years now and entered into a fair few races over different distances, but I've never really had the chance to do one in a location I know like the back of my hand.
So as I started Sunday's half marathon course and ran up towards the Cornhill, I wondered to myself how many times I had walked through the town centre since I started working in Ipswich.
As you might expect, the run - which started and ended at Portman Road - took me past all the major landmarks by the Cornhill, plus a route through Holywells Park before heading off all the way along the Waterfront and going down Wherstead Road.
And the sense of community spirit was so great to see. There must have been thousands of people parading the streets to cheer runners they didn't know on.
That support will have spurred so many people on as they aimed to clinch a new personal best, or maybe just got them over the finish line at the end of what was a tough but rewarding course.
The town centre start was flat, as you might expect, but the entrance to Holywells Park brought some inclines which I was not exactly prepared for.
Being from the flattest part of rural Lincolnshire, one thing I was definitely not made for was hills.
But what goes up must come down, as the rule goes, so the decline out of the park towards the former Tolly Cobbold brewery was the perfect chance to get speed up.
From there I whizzed past the Waterfront to all of my adoring supporters (I pretended they had come out for me) and set off for Wherstead and The Strand, underneath the mighty Orwell Bridge.
This is where my hillphobia really kicked in - getting up to Wherstead sapped the energy from the legs as it seemed like the incline would never really end.
Mercifully, it did, so it was then on to Freston, without time to stop for a beer at the destination Boot pub.
It was really nice to see these little communities up close and personal, with families camped outside their homes as they waited for the runners to arrive and roar them on.
It was then a case of retracing my steps back towards Ipswich for the last few miles, which included a shoutout to my old colleague Tom as he was running the course on the other side of the road.
The noise really picked up as I got back to Stoke Bridge for the last mile or so, with huge crowds lining the streets as I used what little energy I had left running past the new Princes Street fire and police station, the crown court and the former Ipswich Star/EADT offices at Portman House.
After somehow summoning the power to sprint finish, I collected my medal and said hello to Ipswich mayor Elango Elavalakan as I exited the barriers to grab my bag and head home.
My chip time was 1:31:32, which is a few minutes off my personal best but not a bad result considering I entered very late and have been training for shorter distances - notably a 10k race next Sunday.
Final word must go to those giving up their Sunday mornings to cheer everyone on as it showed how brilliant the Ipswich community can be. And especially for booing the incredibly bold man who decided to run in a Norwich City shirt on our turf!
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