Race Day; Macmillan Cancer 10k

This Sunday marked my first ever 'competitive' 10k. Following the marathon I was inspired to up my own game and give a bit more purpose to my frequent running. I opted for a Macmillan Cancer fundraising (FUN rather than competitive) race. It was more of a challenge to myself than to wonder where I came in the scheme of things. My race was against the clock...(that came out way cheesier than I was intending)

My 'training' was unstructured to say the least, mainly from necessity. I run the 3 miles to work an average of 4 times per week and at least one other longer run at the weekend. The raining plans I see online feature lots of walking, which I don't need. I therefore just went with my best instinct. I was also scuppered by a week in southern Italy and a few days away with work.

On the day it was gorgeous and sunny - aka hot. Luckily the race was kicking off at 10am so it wouldn't be too hot by the time I finished. I can't really moan about anything else or give any other excuses...only that my training wasn't as it should have been.

For breakfast (in case you are interested!) I went for two small bananas and an alpen bar. I also loaded up with a couple of Lucozade lites. Still on my diet you see! My carb loading the day before was also weak...a Marks & Spencer count on us mushroom risotto for lunch with a count on us Cajun Chicken Fettuccine with one wholemeal pitta for dinner. More carbs than I've had for a couple of weeks, but still I was going to be burning them off.

I started really fast, a minute under my target mile time. I needed to slow down but felt good. Sure enough not before long I was running comfortably at my target time that would allow me to hit my 'stretch' target. Unfortunately that didn't last. I ended up running in and around my 'safety' target time. There were a couple of sneaky but long hills on the course (three times around the seemingly flat Regents Park in London). The hills and the heat were tough, but I powered on.

Going strong rounding the corner into the second lap

My second lap was unexpectedly slower than my first, but my target was still achievable. Finally on this time around I could take notice of the 8 and 9k signs that had taunted me on my first two laps. The park was of course not closed to the public and at one stage I tripped over a runaway dog. I stayed on my feet but gave the owner a knowing look of disdain. 

Finally the end was in site, the last 2k felt like 10k on it's own. It was ridiculously tough. Luckily I had arranged my music perfectly to account for this so the epic Florence and the Machine Shake it Out came on just when I needed it.

Smiling, but dead

I hit my safety target just. I'm keeping it a secret target. I know I'm not the fastest person in the world but boy did I try. I now have a target to beat next time. They had a tent of snacks and I allowed myself one finger of Twix. My supporters got more benefit tucking into the rest. I however got to enjoy this all myself!