Race report alert!
It was a 10K race- I turned up to the same race I did last year, so I was feeling pleased that I knew the course. I forgot my mp3 player, but I felt confident I could focus on my running and not listen to my breathing. We were off and I was feeling strong. I kept checking my Nike+ wristband (not for the pace but for the time) but after running for half an hour or so I realised that I had not seen any distance markers at all. I was hoping to get in under an hour, and my pace was feeling fast so I was optimistic. Then there was the hill. I remembered it from last year, but this time around it seemed so much steeper. In fact I ran at it, and could not get enough momentum to reach the top; I slid back down and had to try again. I realised with a panic that I had not long to go before my hour was up, and I could not see a way up the hill. In the end another runner pointed out a rope to me, which I held on to and managed to haul my way up the hill.
Did I finish? Well, I don’t know, because then I woke up.
Now in fact in a few weeks time I do have a 10k race, and I did the same race last year, and I am also hoping to get in on the hour mark (my fastest 10k race time is 63 mins and some seconds). It must be playing on my mind! I really enjoy races, I try not to put pressure on myself and do them for the fun and for the achievement, but I am always nervous before and never sleep well the night before. But this is a first! I have such a good pre-race routine now- I always get all my things ready the night before, down to the safety pins and number, put the timer chip on my laces etc (I use the list in the Zest
runners book) so these things calm my nerves a little bit. I don’t have lucky pants/ racing vest or anything like that; I just worry about not finding parking or missing the start or forgetting my water or something silly. Or there being a long queue for the toilets. In fact in the last half marathon I did, I was talking to so many people that I didn’t have time to go to the toilets and spent the entire race needing the toilet- not good!
Anyway, today actually was a standard work day. I split a 9bar between my am and pm snack, and then once home went out on a run, in the lovely English drizzle. I suppose you could call it refreshing, but in fact my glasses fogged up and my hands got cold.
But anyway, I managed a 5.2 mile run, around the lakes and back, and despite really tight calves I kept a fairly even pace (except the one mile with a massive long horrible hill that gets progressivly steeper the more you run up it), finishing in 52 mins with a few minutes waiting at various traffic lights.
Then it was home for a hot shower (which is always so much better after a run in the rain) and some dinner (what else on a monday than a mexican bean wrap?).
I also indulged in some of this;
(That is actually an old pic but in fact I had the exact same cup today what are the chances? Slim as I have about a million cups- I hoard them like nobodies business).
So, any crazy pre-race nervy dreams? Any pre-pace superstitions or routines? Any lucky items that you have to have with you in a race?
