Race 13 : Mel’s Milers 10K
Race: Mel’s Milers 10K - Christ Hospital school
Distance: 6miles
Time: 50 mins
13 was not unlucky for me! The 13th race fell in the midst of a beautiful spring time weekend. The sun decided it was going to shine all weekend long to celebrate the start of British summertime. This sunshine really helped with the loss of one hour of sleep as the clocks changed during the night on saturday meaning our 7:30 wake up felt like a 6:30 wake up. It took me a little while to get out of bed and into the shower. It was the usual rush to scoff some porridge and leave the flat in good time as it was a 40 minute drive over to Christ’s Hospital School. It was a truly lovely morning and we decided to listen to the Gorillaz in the car… I think we even had the windows down for some one the drive. Helloooo sunshine!
I was excited to see Alex’s reaction to Christ’s hospital school as he hadn’t been there before. I know a lot of places get compared to Hogwarts these days but Christ’s Hospital is definitely a strong contender for most like Hogwarts- a lot of that comes down to the combination of amazing architecture and the fact that the students wear actual capes as part of their school uniform. (And Mustard yellow knee length socks… let's not forget that striking detail)
Parking was a little hectic as the school filled up with runners and we cut it a little fine with the collection of numbers and squeezing in (or out) a little pre race wee. The start of the race was in the big square of the school with the sun warming our bones as we waited to begin. It was a very fast start to the race as we followed the curving footpaths through the grounds of the school out into the surrounding woodland. I believe we were following the Downs Link or Worth Way public footpath network. It was delightfully flat and shaded so the average pace of runners definitely felt pretty fast! I had to wiggle my way round a few slower runners to find some space to settle into a comfortable pace.
It had been 2 whole weeks since my last run and my heart was pounding and I found that I was out of breath quite a lot during this race. I initially put it down to being out of shape but once I actually remembered to start my GPS watch I took a few checks on my pace and found that i was hovering around the 8 minute mile mark- so I was moving pretty fast.
It wasn’t the most memorable race in that it wasn’t particularly scenic. It crossed varied terrain from school grounds to woodlands, to housing estates and a few baron and dry fields. As it was flat and a bit dull it meant that there were little distractions to be seen. I was really focused on how I was feeling and how quickly (or slowly) i was passing the KM signs. It was quite a painful and tortured race as all i was concerned with was getting it DONE. I wasn’t really enjoying the ride much at all. I was SO grateful for the fact that I could listen to music on this race because I really needed it.
I spent a lot of the last 3KM of the race trailing runners of a similar pace to me. I just couldn’t get past them as they were running next to each other so they left me with little choice but to hang on their heels. It kept my pace consistent at least!
The end of the race was pretty memorable. Running through the main square of the school in the sunshine felt a bit like what I imagine running down the mall to be like! There was a lot of space between me and the person in front and behind so I came over the finish line by myself and was so relieved to be done. Alex was already finished but was surprised to see me finish so soon as I was only 2 minutes behind him. Final time was 50 Minutes and 5 Seconds.
A new PB!
