Jane
Today's race was interesting. It was the first running of what may well become a big event, and I wanted to be part of it. I never expected to get a good time, but I still wanted to turn up and run because it was a Jane Tomlinson thing.
For those of you who haven't heard of her, she is a local woman who was diagnosed with terminal cancer about six years ago and given six months to live. She did a marathon, and an ironman, and cycled across America, and across Europe, and generally did all sorts of inspirational fund raising things. But even though she defied the doctors and lived far longer than they were expecting, you get the impression that time is running out for her now. She was heavily involved in the organisation of this 10k, but she didn't run it. She isn't participating any more, and who knows whether she'll be around for the second running of this race. So I wanted to be there for the first one.
It was targetted very much as a charity race rather than a serious runners race. It still surprises me that I find myself falling in the latter category rather than the former. there was an "elite" start for people expecting to run under 40 minutes, but I'm not that fast. (I did have to laugh when someone walked past me on the way to the elite start and motionned for me to come with them. Possibly because there weren't many people wearing club vests, but do I really look elite?! Actually, given the delusions of the people who lined up in the 40 - 60 group with me, I may have been better with the sub-40 runners...)
The start was slow. Lining up at the start was very much a free for all. Even though the PA bloke encouraged people to start somewhere appropriate for their speed, there was no way of enforcing it - no time banded pens or waved starts, so I didn't really get going until about 3k. By which point I'd probably run nearer 4k due to my weaving in and out in an attempt to get anywhere near my normal 10k pace. Even at the end, I was still finding myself having to weave in and out, and constantly vary my pace to deal with the congestion. I have nothing against people walking that sort of event, but it does grate a bit when you try to start in the right place, and come across people walking within the first 500 metres. Particularly when there are four of them, together, dressed in giant balloon costumes. Walk if you want, but preferably not in the way of people who want to actually run the whole thing.
But it wasn't a race about times. It's the first time recently I've really just let myself run to enjoy an event rather than thinking about times and targets. I knew that it probably wouldn't be a PB and I was happy with that. I even cycled to the start on the assumption that it wasn't the sort of race I needed to save every last drop of energy for. Even more unusually, I had a couple of drinks last night, which I never do before a race I'm taking seriously. I was happy to treat it as an experience to be enjoyed rather than anything else.
There were some good bits. Seeing Tracey Morris in full flight for one (I think she was actually in third place overall, beating most of the men). And the bizarre bits like thinking "that smurf needs a better sports bra" and hearing tales of people being overtaken by superman's sprint finish. And all the people who had been inspired to raise money for charity, even if they weren't natural runners.
At the end I was a bit disappointed. The t-shirt was a bit uninspiring, and the "goody bag" was a bottle of lucozade in a plastic bag. I'm sorry, that's not a goody bag. It's a drink. Fair enough if you're paying £6 to enter, but for over £20 with plenty of big name sponsors on board it seemed a bit stingy.
Time wise, I suppose I have to be happy. Two years ago running 10k was a distant dream. This time last year, a good 10k was around, or below, 50 minutes while a vaguely acceptable one was under an hour. Today I ran a congested 10k, without really focussing on it in under 50 minutes, according to my watch (I'm still waiting for my chip time but expect it to be about 49:53). It that's a below my best performance, then it's not exactly something to get upset about.
Next week I have a race which I may well take a little more seriously. Unusually for me it's a 5k. I hate 5ks. You have to go off far too fast, and I'm only just getting going normally by 5k. But it's being sponsored by my firm and I've been press-ganged into turning out for it so we have a decent corporate turn out. Of course, my competitiveness means that I want to beat all the other people from work, which is made slightly trickier by the fact that they're all blokes. But I'm the resident runner, and I don't want them to forget it.
On the other hand, if any of them do happen to beat me, I'll just challenge them to a rematch over a distance of my choice. 26.2 miles should do it...
For those of you who haven't heard of her, she is a local woman who was diagnosed with terminal cancer about six years ago and given six months to live. She did a marathon, and an ironman, and cycled across America, and across Europe, and generally did all sorts of inspirational fund raising things. But even though she defied the doctors and lived far longer than they were expecting, you get the impression that time is running out for her now. She was heavily involved in the organisation of this 10k, but she didn't run it. She isn't participating any more, and who knows whether she'll be around for the second running of this race. So I wanted to be there for the first one.
It was targetted very much as a charity race rather than a serious runners race. It still surprises me that I find myself falling in the latter category rather than the former. there was an "elite" start for people expecting to run under 40 minutes, but I'm not that fast. (I did have to laugh when someone walked past me on the way to the elite start and motionned for me to come with them. Possibly because there weren't many people wearing club vests, but do I really look elite?! Actually, given the delusions of the people who lined up in the 40 - 60 group with me, I may have been better with the sub-40 runners...)
The start was slow. Lining up at the start was very much a free for all. Even though the PA bloke encouraged people to start somewhere appropriate for their speed, there was no way of enforcing it - no time banded pens or waved starts, so I didn't really get going until about 3k. By which point I'd probably run nearer 4k due to my weaving in and out in an attempt to get anywhere near my normal 10k pace. Even at the end, I was still finding myself having to weave in and out, and constantly vary my pace to deal with the congestion. I have nothing against people walking that sort of event, but it does grate a bit when you try to start in the right place, and come across people walking within the first 500 metres. Particularly when there are four of them, together, dressed in giant balloon costumes. Walk if you want, but preferably not in the way of people who want to actually run the whole thing.
But it wasn't a race about times. It's the first time recently I've really just let myself run to enjoy an event rather than thinking about times and targets. I knew that it probably wouldn't be a PB and I was happy with that. I even cycled to the start on the assumption that it wasn't the sort of race I needed to save every last drop of energy for. Even more unusually, I had a couple of drinks last night, which I never do before a race I'm taking seriously. I was happy to treat it as an experience to be enjoyed rather than anything else.
There were some good bits. Seeing Tracey Morris in full flight for one (I think she was actually in third place overall, beating most of the men). And the bizarre bits like thinking "that smurf needs a better sports bra" and hearing tales of people being overtaken by superman's sprint finish. And all the people who had been inspired to raise money for charity, even if they weren't natural runners.
At the end I was a bit disappointed. The t-shirt was a bit uninspiring, and the "goody bag" was a bottle of lucozade in a plastic bag. I'm sorry, that's not a goody bag. It's a drink. Fair enough if you're paying £6 to enter, but for over £20 with plenty of big name sponsors on board it seemed a bit stingy.
Time wise, I suppose I have to be happy. Two years ago running 10k was a distant dream. This time last year, a good 10k was around, or below, 50 minutes while a vaguely acceptable one was under an hour. Today I ran a congested 10k, without really focussing on it in under 50 minutes, according to my watch (I'm still waiting for my chip time but expect it to be about 49:53). It that's a below my best performance, then it's not exactly something to get upset about.
Next week I have a race which I may well take a little more seriously. Unusually for me it's a 5k. I hate 5ks. You have to go off far too fast, and I'm only just getting going normally by 5k. But it's being sponsored by my firm and I've been press-ganged into turning out for it so we have a decent corporate turn out. Of course, my competitiveness means that I want to beat all the other people from work, which is made slightly trickier by the fact that they're all blokes. But I'm the resident runner, and I don't want them to forget it.
On the other hand, if any of them do happen to beat me, I'll just challenge them to a rematch over a distance of my choice. 26.2 miles should do it...
posted by YP at 4:21 PM
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