Hi there! It has been a while...
The blog has been dormant for a long while now, simply because I have not had an awful lot to say. I was injured for ages and getting back into shape has been a patchy experience. Things do now seem to be on an even keel, thankfully, and after some rocky times I seem to have found some peace and happiness in running once more.
The reason for this particular post is that yesterday I had such a great experience at a race and I'm itching to share it. You may know that the company I work for has a running shop (The Running Works) in Houndsditch, London. We're the largest indie running store in London and three lunchtimes a week we take people out for group runs.
We'd been talking for some time about doing a race together and a few months ago we decided to take the plunge with the Cancer Research Winter Run 10k. Our reasons for choosing this race were that it was in central London and so easy for everyone to get to, there was plenty of time for everyone to get some decent training for the distance under their belts and a portion of the entry fee goes straight to Cancer Research UK so you can contribute to an amazing cause but not have the added stress of trying to fundraise in addition to getting race ready.
I haven't been doing any structured speed work and so decided to shelve my original plan of attempting the elusive sub-50 result and use the race instead as a fun recovery run for Saturday's 12 miler. Still a little lagged from the long run, I got up nice and early Sunday morning for my pre-race breakfast of bagel and coffee, put on the kit I'd laid out the night before, bundled up in the warmest clothes I had and set off on a two mile warm-up jog towards the race village in Trafalgar Square.
Running in central London at the weekend is a heavenly experience, with the City pretty much deserted, but with all the roads from home to the race being part of the route and closed it was even more idyllic. It may seem a little daft to run to the race with the long one from the day before still in my legs but one thing that running with asthma has taught me is that for shorter, sharper races, I need all the help I can get to have my lungs in coordination with my legs. Especially today as the mild weather we'd been enjoying had given way again to frosty climes.
Under the foot of one of the giant lion statues I met up with Nadia (who would be running her first 10k race), Nichola, Neil and Yann who were all gunning for personal bests, and Spencer, a fellow asthma sufferer who I've had the pleasure of racing alongside at other 10ks. He had also decided to lay off going for sub-50 as he's had a bad chest since before Christmas. It was brilliant to bump into Gemma Hockett, fresh from her altitude training trip in Kenya, and Julia from my Cross Country team. I admire both of these women a great deal; they train for results and work really hard to achieve them. Gemma was going for a new best but Julia was wearing her festive jumper and planned to just enjoy the atmosphere.
I was quite apprehensive about this race in the lead-up; the idea of things like fake snow, penguin party area, husky zone and people dressed up like snowmen seemed a bit cheesy. Also, there was some real faff with the delivery of race packs and announcing start times that made me worry that the race wouldn't be very well organised. Come race day, I really had no cause for concern. The race village was spacious and there weren't any queues for the bag drop. You handed over your bag and the staff put a numbered sticker on it before giving you a wristband with a corresponding number. As race time neared we hugged Nadia and wished her good luck (she was in a later wave) and headed for the start pen. Race organisers, Human Race, had put together a fantastic bunch of volunteers who were all 100% clued up with everything we needed to know; they were clear, concise and SO very friendly.
While we waited in the pen we took a few photos and chatted with a snowman/volunteer. I've never understood the point of attempting to warm up in start pens as it's so tightly packed that I can't follow what's going on but they played some brilliant tunes and the MC was really enthusiastic in a non-annoying way. Our wave got underway promptly at 9.38am and, soaking up the thrill you only get at the start of a race, I let myself be pulled across the timing mat and tried not to let the excitement dictate my pace. I really struggle with the shorter, faster race. My asthma doesn't help but I don't think I've ever really learned how to cope with the metal side of things. In my mind, though, I still wasn't racing this one so kept focus on my form and how strong and confident I wanted to feel crossing the finish line.
The first mile was, as you'd expect, fairly congested with runners trying to settle into their stride but after that the wide roads meant that it wasn't very often you couldn't move ahead of someone with ease. The first 'novelty' landmark we past was the husky zone; a group of people dressed up as dogs with speakers blaring out canine related rock / pop tunes. On the way out it was Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf (TUNE!) which lifted me right up and I high fived every single one of those huskies. As the route turned up towards the Museum of London we were treated to a performance by the Rock Choir and they were just brilliant - another mood lifter. Although I was wearing my Garmin I was running to feel and knew that Spencer and I were keeping a pretty steady pace and it felt good.
The route has a fair few twists and turns, including a couple of pretty tight u-turns, but there are plenty of marshals and signs letting you know to take care. Again, the volunteers around the course were amazing, all clapping and cheering and that was actually really important because, although it's a pretty big race with around 16,000 runners, apart from the start and finish area there wasn’t any crowd support. It being central London, there were a few numpties who slipped passed the course marshals to step out in front of you (or try and cycle into you) and one very unfortunate incident of a St John's Ambulance crew member walking in front of us and knocking into a lady beside Spencer (she took it well and joked that he must have been trying to drum up some business).
When my Garmin vibrated to alert me that we'd hit five miles, I sneaked a peek at the screen and was extremely surprised to see we'd gone through in 41 minutes, meaning we were on for a finish in the low 50s - not what I'd planned at all! I was fearful that having this knowledge would make my inner voice get louder and that I'd cave and have to slow right down just to be able to carry on but then we ran past the husky zone again (this time playing the Futureheads cover of Hounds of Love) and once more I got a much-needed boost and knew I was fine. The route got a bit narrower in the final kilometer but nothing too drastic and hearing 'Go Spencer! Go Nikki!' from a familiar voice was the final injection needed for a sprint finish (John from run club was in the area and decided to come and cheer us at the end).
Medal on - quality. Water in hand. Guy handing out red packets - free Lindor chocolate! Winter Run 10k - done. My watch tells me we went through the 10k mark in 50:19 but with a bit of bobbing and weaving away from the race line we finished in an official time of 51:20. Not bad for a recovery run!
The others all did so well, all of them getting the PBs they'd hoped for. At this point in time Nadia is not convinced she'll do another 10k race but we'll see. Collecting my bag from the bag drop was totalpain-freeree and I already know that, universe permitting, I will sign up for the 2018 edition of this race. This is a really friendly event and the day seemed to go like clockwork. There's plenty of musical distraction dotted around the course (gospel, drums etc) and the course takes in some very cool landmarks. Highly recommend the Cancer Research Winter Run.
Next up for me is the fourth and final Surrey League Cross Country League fixture with my team Advent Running. Eep!
*I paid for my own entry to the race and wrote this of my own volition.
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