Slow and steady wins the race - or comes 5968th.... (Read 539 times)

Great Capital Run (London) 10k Race Report Hello! I have dithered about whether to call this a 'race' report or not, as my time was sooooo slow but have decided to go for it anyway in the hope that it may inspire any other tortoises out there! This was my second 10k this year as part of my mammoth weight loss challenge (29 pounds lost so far!) It was a perfect route round Hyde Park, flat as can be with one tiny hill of about 20 seconds length! I had done a practise 10k in 1 hr 11 so was hoping to do this one in 1 hr 10. However the weather conspired against my pale Scottish flesh and for me, it couldn't have been worse! In the low eighties, but soooooo humid that you sweated just standing still. Not even a hint of a breeze. Now in Scotland it hardly ever gets humid, and if it does I don't run in it! I was running with my best friend from high school who lives in London so I made a weekend of it! We got there early on the day and sat about in the park listening to the loud music being blasted about. It was super nice to sit there, but I was worrying already about the heat. I am running for my local childrens hospital so I had a massive heavy cotton tshirt on and cotton cropped joggers. Boiling! As we lined up we got split up, it was a pulsed start and we had different colours. She was allowed to come back into my section but she didn't want to as 'there would be too many slow people!' So much for 16 years of friendship, on race day it counted for nothing!!!! I didn't mind though, it was nice to get some time to myself. On the line the announcer was giving a weather warning and saying don't worry about a PB, just get round as it was such a sticky day. So I changed my virtual partner on my garmin 101 to 1:12:30 rather than 1:10. I was so nervous at the start cos my training has been going so much better and I wanted to reflect that. Off I started and did the first k in 7 minutes. Felt rough but figured I would settle. At 1.5k felt terrible and slowed down, and that was to be the pattern of the race, just getting slower and slower. (Thinking to myself now that I would try do it in 1:15:00 as my virtual partner was kicking my arse!) I was so hot I felt my head was going to explode , and at one point I thought my eyebrows had disappeared as I had so much sweat in my eyes! The course doubled back on itself so that was quite depressing. As I struggled to 4k my friend passed me on her way to 7, shouting at me that she was dying! Once I got to 5 I started to feel a little better as I knew I was half way, but I just kept getting hotter and hotter and slower and slower. I went through 5 in 38:30 which is the slowest I have been for ages. Then I got a burning pain in the ball of my right foot and I had to slow right down to the slowest possible without walking speed. I thought I was going to have to stop and walk just before 7k (57:00), it was giving me flashbacks to when I first started running, thats how bad I felt! It was made even more depressing by the fact that the week before i had run 8k in 55.56! Suddenly I saw a run through shower and trotted through slowly to make the most of the water. It felt sooooooooo good and after that the race got better and I found I could pick up my speed slightly. At this point my only goal was to finish faster than I had in my last 10k in May. Coming into my last k 2 fit guys at the side shouted my name (on my shirt) and that made me go faster. I sprinted across the line, and then nearly hurled! My garmin said 10.00k exactly and time 1:19:05 which turned out to be my chip time too! I had done it faster than May, not by much but still an improvement. I couldn't really be disappointed in my time cos I did try hard and feel awful, there was nothing left in my legs at all. With sweat dripping off the end of my nose ( that was a first for me!) I went to find my friend. She was hoping to do it in under an hour but got 1:06:57. Our medal was really nice and the race tshirt was quite nice too. On the way home it thundered and poured like crazy and I enjoyed the rain! Next 10k is at the start of Sept in Scotland so the weather will be much more suitable I should think! And hopefully I'll get a better time in that one! P.S Just watched the highlights on the tv, it was 27c/81f just to be precise! Funny seeing the course, I obviously had my head down as I didn't recognise most of it!!!

Hi Freckles...great report; some days are just like that!! It is a shame that after travelling so far and having certain expectations that you didn't 'do it' there...don't worry - you know the reasons for it and I guarantee that you thrash the pants off that time in September in your home country, in the cool of autumn. Looking at your log you seem to be doing fine; you have room to add some more kms to your week but I notice that is your trend. Good job, happy trails.

i know how it goes! i just did my first 10k at the beginning of this month and finished in 1:16. i just have to remind myself that when i first started running, a little over a year ago, i couldn't even run one city block without stopping, so the fact that i finished 6.2 miles is pretty crazy. i think i'll do another 10k someday, but probably in the winter or spring when its not so hot out! great job on your 10k - keep it up!

Great race report, Freckles! Heat is no fun to run in, but the upside is you will feel a lot better and be a bit faster when things cool off. At least that's what I keep telling myself everytime I run in the heat.