So in order to get me ready for my goal of being able to run a Half Marathon in October my husband and I decided to test the water with a 10k race. Specifically the National Running Show Partner Race Solutions Green Park Royal Berkshire 10km. I have never run with other people before, except maybe my husband but trust me when I say that that really didn’t prepare me for the weekend at all. I am so glad that we did this! I learnt a whole raft of things that I am sure I have read other runners say but to be honest wouldn’t have really understood until I came across them myself.
The first lesson I learnt is that you have to eat! One of the things that I normally do on a run is get up and go first thing in the morning. Now this is fine if come race day you are running first thing in the morning, so you just need to eat well the night before. It doesn’t help though when you normally run at 7am and the race you are running is at 10.30am. My body got me up at a normal time of the morning so I was awake from 7am and decided to just have a drink from the fridge rather than eat anything before the race so that my body was in the same position as when I normally run. The thing that I hadn’t factored in was that in being awake and doing things you naturally burn more calories than if you were in bed. By the time the race came round I was starting to get hungry, in hind site not a good thing. Don’t get me wrong I still managed to finish the race without walking and I also managed to reduce my time on a 10km run to 7:17 per km but by the time I got to the end I was honestly considering throwing up I was so exhausted. Plan next time, eat well!
The next thing which was new to me was running with others. People don’t get me wrong I love you all dearly but when you don’t run with others very often and everyone is in their own zone you don’t half get annoying. I am not kidding I don’t think I found my own head space this race purely because I was to busy watching where everyone else was and trying to find my own space. I am really glad we did this race for that fact, I am going to have to push myself to get used to others being around and finding my own run space both physically and mentally whilst other people are around.
I am very happy with the gear that I took that day: a well worn pair of Asics trainners; the amazing compression socks I got from Run Mummy Run crew; my super cheeky T K Maxx bargin leggings in pink (becuase I just had too!); tested out my Donkey Sanctuary Charity running vest, and my super comfy Shock Absorber run bra.
I am really excited to find another race to do before the summer is over so that I can test out all the things I have learnt. I also need to up my weekly running game I feel. Time to insert more excersise into my week!
I completed the race in 1hour 11minutes.
Watch this space people!