Runner Spotlight – Meet Carmen Somerset and Daniel Creed
Meet Carmen Somerset, 40 and Daniel Creed, 44 from Hove are running the Altra Brighton Half Marathon as newlyweds!
Carmen explains their story: “Daniel is the runner, I am the swimmer, although I used to run a lot, before swimming took over! After a busy summer training for, then swimming the English Channel (in a nutshell that’s 21-mile swim from near Dover to France) I wanted a ‘new’ goal – I needed something that was achievable and realistic but also a bit of a challenge and a change from what I had been previously training for. We were already going to Spain for the weekend in October, for a few days away with Daniel’s running group. Daniel was doing the half marathon and so I decided to do the 10 km. Training started in August for me, 12 weeks; Channel swim to 10 km run, which was a lot harder than you might think!”
“From there it just evolved… I loved getting to a point of being able to run with Daniel. People talk about ‘couple goals’ and I have to say this is one of my favourite goals, it’s just great fun to be able to go out for a run together, we don’t always talk that much, sometimes we’re quite quiet but we’re together, supporting each other in different ways, enjoying the time and experience together. After the 10 km I continued to run regularly to keep up this new run-fitness I had, whilst also planning our wedding for the end of February 2025.”
“It then dawned on us that Brighton Half Marathon was the day after our wedding party (how we missed that when planning I am not sure, as Daniel normally does that run most years!). Daniel thought that it might not go down too well with me, his new wife, if the morning after our wedding party he goes off to run the half marathon, but my thought was why don’t we both do it?!”
“I have very fond memories of running Brighton Half Marathon years ago – I have done it a few times, and it’s a great run, with loads of support from the crowds and it’s our home turf! The Brighton Half Marathon is also the last race I did before I pulled away from run-training to focus on swimming, so it feels special and ‘full -circle’ to come back to run it again, with Daniel on what is a very special weekend for us. We will be running the 13.1 miles together as a very new Mr and Mrs with a ‘Just Married’ balloon, so do keep an eye out for us, we cannot wait!”
Visit the Altra Brighton Half Marathon website for more information or to volunteer on the day. Follow the race on Facebook, Instagram and X for all the latest news #BrightonHalfMarathon
