The second 10K (June 5th) was in practice for the third (June 19th) (so not to show myself up in front of the then vegetating Geordie). I was given a flyer, in a goody bag (which sadly didn't have a t-shirt in, but contained a life saving banana), at the end of my first 10K. After a brief read I decided the race was far too close for me to psyche myself back up and so wrote it off completely. It wasn’t until 2 days before the run that I decided to man up, eat loads of carbs and just do it (I mean why not?? it was for charity).
The run was located in the next village at a stately manor (very posh, lots of sheep and a conservatory cafe). Unfortunately, what I didn’t realise was that you cannot get directly to it by bus. I hadn't really thought it through and to be fair I wasn't entirely awake. I ended up walking for 40 minutes on a road with no path that seemed to lead aimlessly into the back and beyond, before reaching the main entrance. I was ready for a power nap before I had even begun.
The event aimed to raise money for the Air Ambulance Rescue Service (I can't say this is a charity is particularly close to my heart but at least if I ever require this service, I did my bit for the air fare. Also, I’ve signed up for the Jane Tomlinson 1 day 26 mile walk in the Yorkshire Dales on August the 14th, so the air fare contribution may just come in handy).
The one speculation was to wear yellow (like the rescue helicopter), however, the only yellow item of clothing that I managed to dig out was a shrunken Primark T-shirt (that I occassionally wear for bed). Despite the fact that it may be quite liberating to run with my belly hanging out I don't think it would have been appropriate at that particular family event. You will be pleased to know that when I arrived they were selling yellow t-shirts for a fiver and so my belly stayed inside my t-shirt (which I made sure to wear to the next 10K, remember it is all about scaring the competition, even if the competition was Andy Sugden from Emmerdale!).
The race day itself was really well put together, however, the actual race started far too late. The organisers had obviously never ran a race before (not because they were rotund) or they wouldn't have started it at peak sun/heat. The mayor and mayoress of the village turned up (in their bling) to say their thing, by the time the mayoress got hold of the microphone everyone was getting restless, to the point where a man in the crowd comically shouted 'get on with it' looking a little embarrassed she cut the babble and honked the horn and we were off.
I always set off at a steady pace, letting the pro's, eager beavers and fast burn outs get a head. My mental wall is fairly early on. For the most part, as long as I can get through the first 3K I seem to go into auto pilot until the second round of omg I still have that far to go! Then the porridge kicks in and I’m back in the zone until the final slog (I hate this bit). I soon found myself stuck next to a bloke that was too hard to shake off. I clocked him as my pace setter within 10 minutes. 20 minutes later the awkwardness of not being able to outpace one another resulted in polite encouraging conversation 'I like your pace, we can do this!' He then proceeded to repeatedly ask me if I was ok, if I would like him to carry my water and whether I was ok to get home on my own.... obviously, he has never seen a running quasimodo before.
It was at this point I realised that wearing head phones really doesn’t help me a. Network (to be more precise find young hot athletic men) or (and probably more important) b. Hear myself breathe. The next stage of my training was running without music as well as improving my time for the next 10K, whilst training for the half marathon (argh!) and the 26 mile walk (er crap).
No comments:
Post a Comment