On Sunday, I ran my 1st 10k race at Horndon On The Hill.
The weather forecast wasn't great and I woke up around 7 to torrential rain. I wasn't too worried as the alternate weather forecast was bright sunshine and I hate the heat! I'd psyched myself to running in the rain yet by the time we arrived it had brightened up a lot and it stayed dry.
We (Keith, Olivia and my Mum came with me) arrived about 10 so had plenty of time to have a wander round the village and join the long queue for the toilets! As the start time got closer, I got more and more nervous. I knew I could run the distance easily enough, I just didn't want to be last or look really stupid.
Just before 11, Megan, who I had been talking to on an online running group found me and I tagged along with her and friends to the start line. Just having people to chat to helped distract me from being too worried as I was close to tears at one point, as ridiculous as that sounds.
11am - Go!
I started off a bit quicker than I anticipated as got a bit caught up in the excitement I think and as it was pretty busy I was very conscious of trying to keep out of the way of the fast people. Overall, after all that worrying, I actually mostly enjoyed myself! The hill was pretty tough going (closest to a hill where I live is a railway bridge so not something I've practised yet tho have routes planned now it's closer to the Great North Run) but I made it without stopping and walking, even, bizarrely, passing a couple of people!
The atmosphere of the race was really good - there was a great crowd cheering us on along most of the route, not just in the village but on the side roads, people were sat outside their houses and children had little banners and were putting their hands out to high 5 people! It really did help, especially on the second lap of a looped section that I struggled a bit on.
The bit I found toughest was a farm track section, it had got pretty warm and I just couldn't get into a good rhythm. It was difficult as the surface was pretty uneven and trying to keep my footing, not fall in the potholes/puddles/mud or get in anyone's way was a bit of a struggle.
I had deliberately not been looking at the time/distance I had gone as I didn't want to get too stressed, I wanted to enjoy it but I had to ask the marshall at the end of the track if I was nearly at the end, I was very relieved when he said it was only about a mile to go.
I could see the finish line, up another, luckily smaller, hill. A marker on the road saying 100 metes to go. I was half thinking I could speed up a bit, half annoyed with the bad spelling! My legs were suddenly really heavy and I felt like I was barely moving but according to my Nike + I did get quite a lot quicker.
I didn't set a serious target as being my first race I just wanted to try and enjoy it as it had the added bonus of whatever I got would be a PB ;) I did, however, want to finish under 70 minutes. I worked out I usually did 5k in about 32 minutes, so doubled it for the 10k then added a bit on as I was scared of the hill/track/weather/everything ....
Totally amazed that my official time was 60:48 :-)
Video!
