Had an interesting day today - my first running race since I was 15, and that was a long long time ago. Infact I was amused to see that I now qualify as a Vet being 40 and all! My highlights of the Jim Dingwall Elloughton 10k are as follows:
3am I'm queuing for the event registration when I'm asked what my estimated finishing time is, when I mention perhaps 45 minutes, there is a little laugh from the organiser who enquiries whether I know it is full marathon distance. I then struggle for hours incapable of fixing my number to my vest, eventually having to have cling film wrapped around me until I can hardly breath. It's only then that I notice that the course is heading up a snowy mountain that looks very much like Everest. Luckily at this point I wake up...!
500m into the race and I can't believe how heavy my legs feel, it feels like I'm wearing boots of lead. But at the first km marker I'm surprised to see 4.05 mins on my watch - much faster than expected.
2-5km I've spotted a likely pacing candidate, a petite woman with a neat efficient running action is 10m ahead. My plan is to stick close to Miss Neat Petite while still trying to hold back on my effort
6-7.8km Mr Tall fancy pants racing shoes and his mate Mr Short but mini - lap top on his wrist steam past me and I up my pace to try to go with them. I'm beginning to huff and puff a fair bit by now.
8km I get a rush of blood to the head and put in a big kick. Miss Neat Petite, and Misters fancy shoes and lap top all seem to go backwards. I have flashbacks to school sports days in the early 80s kicking on the bend of 800m races.
9km Unfortunately this isn't an 800m run and within minutes its obvious Ive blown it. I sound and look like a derailing train. Some of the spectators look aghast - I'm obviously the token crazy runner, some however cheer me on - which is much appreciated.
10km During the final km one voice in me wants to give up another wants to start sprinting. I'm incapable of either so I stagger over the line to find I've knocked my watch off earlier with my spastications. Fancy Shoes and Lap Top sailed past me but I somehow managed to keep ahead of Neat Petite. It turns out I managed a time of 42.02 and 58th finisher out of 443 - I'm pretty chuffed with that for my first race, particularly after only a couple of months of running.
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2 comments:
Excellent!
I'm trying this running business too and its tough - for me :)
does it get easier? tell me it does...
I'm no expert having only got back into running for a couple of months now. However the first few weeks were by far the worst, just running for 20mins was painful. One thing I did was actually slow down and that enabled me to run a little longer and enjoy it more. Having said that speed sessions are just plain painful and that last K on Sunday was something else! I have to confess I do quite enjoy the struggle though.
Good luck with your running, keep it up it'll be worth it.
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