Race 5 : Worthing Running Sisters- The Christmas Cracker 10k
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 51 mins
This weekend was the first big weekend of my running year. A Double whammy of races!
The first of the weekend was what I believed would be a nice easy seafront 10K before the ‘big’ 10 Mile race on the Sunday. Unfortunately my brain decided that it didn’t actually fancy a nice sleep on Friday night and instead I was awake most of the night tossing and turning and eventually giving up and going to watch Netflix at 3am. When the alarm went off at 07:30AM it felt most unpleasant. Thankfully the sun was shining so after a cup of tea and my usual bowl of porridge I felt a bit more prepared for the race ahead. We set off in good time as we knew that parking in Worthing can sometimes be a little tricky. (EDIT: I say ‘we’ a lot in this blog and just for reference ‘we’ is myself and my husband Alex. He is also running many of these races as he is a keen runner also- but this particular race he was unable to take part in as it was a ladies only race/ END EDIT)
We found where I needed to be for the start and also picked up my race number and reclaimed the unsigned cheque that we had provided as payment in error (it was a very old school race… no online entry and you had to pay via cheque- which we failed at miserably between us… I don’t own a cheque book and I asked Alex to write one for me which he forgot to sign- Doh!) It was a COLD crisp day and waiting for the race to start was a little chilly.
Soon we were lining up to go and I was chucking my belongings at Alex and sending him off to get a warm drink. Lots of the ladies running had made a real effort with festive fancy dress- the most notable effort was a lady all ready to run 10K in FISHNET TIGHTS. Brave brave lady… to me that just screamed Cheese grater!
And then we were OFF- I set off at what I felt was a gentle plod but seemed to be gliding past many of the other racers (fishnet tights included- no signs of chaffing yet!). I had decided to borrow Alex’s GPS watch to run with as he was not going to be using it that morning. It had been a really long time since I last ran with a watch. Instead I normally choose to run without any indication of my pace or time. It was actually a really interesting experience running with a watch during this race. I flew down the first half of the course- my average pace hovering somewhere quite surprising for me - between 7 minutes and 8 minutes per mile. Most of the race was on the tarmacked promenade - with a slight detour around a very nice housing estate and then about half a mile to a mile along a slightly more pebbly path right on the beach itself.
At the half way point we turned around at the end of a beach front green to run back the way we came and that is when the wind hit us. That feeling of flying down the first half of the race started to make more sense now- the wind had been blowing me along! Running back was a different story. The wind seemed to get stronger throughout those last 3 miles and I saw my pace go from a speed I had never ran at before to 30 seconds a mile slower as I battled to run into the headwind. I crossed paths with a few runners still heading down the course and shared some cheers of encouragement with them. It was a very spread out race and I didn’t see many other runners heading back the same way. I overtook one girl who like me- flew down the first half of the race. I think the headwind took it’s toll on her on the way back.
As we approached the final mile I tried to push myself a bit faster as I was aware that my hands were getting really cold and I wanted to get this one done and dusted. Another runner came from no where and seemingly glided past me. Does she have some sort of protection against the head wind? I would like some if so!
As I was heading for the finish line I saw Alex running towards me shouting “Go Go Go, you are in the top 10!” I almost stopped in my tracks “What???”
I crossed the finish line and the marshal's handed me my medal and my Christmas cracker and a marshal confirmed that I had finished 6th! I couldn’t believe it…..
I finished the 10K race in 51 minutes. That is crazy fast for me. Normally it’s really quite surprising for me to finish within an hour/ just under. I felt pretty damn happy with that time/ result. It was a really nice surprise and a nice Ego boost which made me feel a lot more excited for the race ahead on the Sunday. We celebrated the only way we know how… by eating a massive lunch, accompanied by 2 glasses of wine and having a lazy evening. Like I’ve said before…. I live the life of a true athlete.
