Arriving at the race was interesting - there were lots of people! Lots! Who knew all these people would really want to run 10km? There was all shapes and sizes as well, but the majority were looking pretty trim. It made me feel nervous. I got my badge and hi-tech safety pins, and informed Heather she was going to have to carry my coat. "Why don't you leave it in the car?" she (not unreasonably) wanted to know. "Because it's cold," I told her. "Fair point".
Top tip... leave plenty of time for the queue for the ladies! Luckily, we had that time, so that was good. I wouldn't want to start a race with a full bladder.
The next thing is, find out where the race starts. I mean, hopefully it's pretty obvious. In our case, it obviously wasn't where we were. So we started up the slope (start as you mean to go on). Luckily, the start line became more obvious. Heather wished me good luck, and went off to find the best place to cheer from. I wandered nervously, feeling alone, to the accumulating mass of people. Some bloke smiled at me, so apropos of nothing, I informed him it was my first race. He appeared to have no voice, but as he didn't mention laryngitis, I thought I wouldn't comment on it. I also, with great difficulty, prevented myself from whispering back at him. "I remember my first" he rasped. "You'll have a great time. Just concentrate on finishing. Don't mind everyone else. I just take my time. I love it". It was good advice, especially coupled with what Dave had said about some runners finishing in half an hour. If a 10km race was a fast run, I had to remind myself that that wasn't what I'd been training for, and I couldn't do it.
On Thursday, I'd run 6 miles in an hour, with a couple of minutes walk in the middle, so my challenge was to do it in less than an hour. It was a challenge, because that essentially meant doing the whole race at less than a 10 minute mile, which I struggle with.
I did the first "leg", which was quite easy, and a couple more people started walking. Overtake! Woo hoo! (Another top tip: do not say either of these things, nor "Yessssss," when you overtake. Especially walkers. They may have the stamina to catch you up). At the end of the road, we turned back, and I'd already seen the first people (men) on their way back, pegging along. Back they came, and soon it was me. A little way after I turned back, I passed the voiceless guy, and we gave a thumbs up to each other. Don't know who the other baldy was, but my mate was behind me! I'd beaten someone else! All I had to do now was keep going!
I got back to H, still waiting at the cross roads, and set off on the longer leg. Down a nice hill, which was of course, disconcerting, because I'd have to come back up it at the end. Again, I decided to speed up, but by now, there was quite a distance between me and the rest of the crowd, so i thought I'd close it a little. I got overtaken by some others. I remembered my water/apple juice mix today, so I was stocking up on fluids, which was good. At the bottom of the hill, we passed over a lake, and, as with water bodies, it was nestled nicely at the bottom, and that meant we had to go up again. It was a fair rise. But I thought rather proudly of my training around Arthur's seat. Hadn't I done well to choose the harder route of going up, and then down, and then up again. I could do this! I overtook some more walkers. Let me tell you, the occasional runner too!
I passed a water station, and since the marshals on it all seemed to be kids, I couldn't disappoint them and thought it would be good to keep my own fluid for as long as poss. I was disgusted to notice that runners chuck their plastic cups on the floor. I took a few gulps and dropped my cup politely into the bin. It's not really possible to drink out of a cup on the move though, so you take a sort of automatic 15 second break. It was onwards and upwards, and I was still feeling good. I got to the end of the route, and turned around, for a long downward run. There was a great view from up there, right across Leicestershire, and the countryside was a beautiful parkland. The first bit was some quite nice oak woodland which professionally interested me as I whizzed past it.
As I continued down, I decided to press into action another running trick. You can get these glucose sachets, they give you an energy boost, and salt replacement. I've not used them for training, but I wanted to know if I'd have a problem slurping them down, if I'd feel sick or anything, so I thought, practice race, good time to try. Also, I didn't know how much before the hill would be needed to take effect, so I decided on the way down, before the lake, would be a good time. I was at about 7km. Now, I've heard other people (runners) talk about these sachets, because they contain salt replacement, and because they are a gel, they have a certain similarity to... other things. Also, as they've been in your pocket, they are also warm. To counteract this, I picked blackcurrant flavour, which I thought might mask the similarity to anything less - tasty. I ripped the sachet with my teeth (don't think about it boys) and slurped it down. I have to say, it was better than I thought (and you don't hear that every day, do you?). I think the blackcurrant was its saving grace. An unexpected side-effect though, was that it isn't possible to maintain speed, swallow a gel sachet and not spill it, which also means that your hand ends up being covered with stickiness. Image complete.
Psychological or not, the hill seemed to be fine. I overtook some more people (ha, who're the speedy ones now, eh?) and felt pretty comfortable, if slightly sweaty. My heart rate was still ticking around 178, which was high, but, I thought, still in control, given that I'd maintained my speed for so long. I passed Heather for the final time, just as I was marking two more "quarry" to overtake. The girl let me, she'd had enough, she didn't even respond when I muttered "C'mon, I'll race ya". The bloke was a harder nut to crack. I overtook him, but he overtook me right back. We passed another couple of people. It was him and me now. I passed him again on a hill. We passed the 9km marker, which was a bit of a shock because I thought we were nearer the end than that. Up, it went. Arthur's Seat, c'mon, I can do this. I thought about Nigel saying, you don't want to hoon it up hill... and I didn't, but it was almost the end, and my feet wanted to. My heart rate was 192 bpm. Another 8, and according to the chart Sally gave me, I was going to die, which felt about right. I reached the top of the hill. The bloke was still right beside me. I swore. He didn't overtake me. "That was a killer, wasn't it?" he panted. I was kind of pleased he thought the same. I let him pass. It was all for charity, after all. I saw the finish line, and speeded after him.
Some marshal bloke said "Well done, you've made it!" so I stopped, and carried on walking up the hill, around some cones. A lady with a clip board asked if I was finishing, so I glanced up and said "yes", and realised I hadn't got to the end of the course! Oops. I'd stopped the garmin at 57:55, but the race clock said 58:something by the time I'd reached Clipboard lady! New lesson: know where the finish is! (This race wasn't chipped anyway, so I could basically take my finish time as I liked). I wandered off to find Heather and collect my goody bag, failing to do the former; so I did some stretches, and started to feel cold. I realised that the lady was recording what number I'd come in at, so I went back up the hill, and surreptitiously stood behind her, trying to find my number. All I can say was, I couldn't see it (although I was quite tired), but she volunteered that she no longer had all the sheets. So I might have come in before 307, which was top of the sheet she was on. Happy with that! There were over 500 runners (even though some were 5km, and some were walking it). I shall find out on the interweb in a few days.
Then I saw my friend from the starting line. He'd just finished, and came over, drenched in a sweat, shook my hand (thank goodness I didn't know him any better - ew), and congratulated me. I told him my time, and he seemed very impressed. "So, you were doing about 9:40m/m all the way!" he said. I don't know how people figure that out. "Yep, I guess so" I replied, trying not to let on that my guess wasn't as good as his. Then I found Heather, not before time, I was already freezing again.
Well, I've been asked when my sponsorship form is going to be available, so here it is. I've run a race now: it was a challenge. It was also a much shorter race than the goal. I'm five weeks away now. I'm counting on you guys.
Emma's Just Giving Page
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