I had been umming and ahing about the Love Luton 10k for a couple of weeks, after running past notices a couple of times telling about road closures for the event. As it was starting in the park that my house backs on to, my friend started hounding me about it (he calls it "encouraging”). As I knew I had a busy week with decorating, I had put off signing up, but after a bit of thought on Friday, I thought I might as well.
The online registration had closed, and I wondered if that meant I couldn't enter. Seeing my friend yesterday and running with him (he's the guy with the previously ruptured quads, so it's more walking than running and the running's pretty slow) past a couple of distance markers for the 10k and half marathon, I decided to take a look online and discovered there were some race numbers available on the morning of the race. And so that was it, my mind was pretty much made up.
And how nice to have an extra hour in bed, so that registering at 7.30 wasn't so bad. I got my number and chip, and nipped home to attach them. It was my first chipped race, and only my second event so I was keen to do it right.
Returning to the track for the start of the race was great. I wasn't half as nervous as I had been when I did my first 10k (Race for Life) despite there being many more runners. Mr Razouski came along to give me some encouragement and put up with me flinging my running jacket at him about a minute before the start.
And it was such a lovely run. There were people lining many of the streets: people of all ages and backgrounds cheering us on. Luton gets such bad press, but it felt great being urged on by so many. Especially on the bits of the route which should have been flat – roads I have driven along for years suddenly become irksome inclines, evil elevations, gruelling gradients, and severe slopes. After about 5 km another of these killer hills appeared and I was struggling to keep going, but a couple of children came up and wanted to high five me, saying “go on, you know you can do this”, and I thought, “Yes, of course I can.”
And then Mr R. came in view again, he had driven down to this part of town to cheer me on and check that I was doing ok. It set me up well for the second half of the race, which was going well until I passed a group of four 20 something lads who were walking, and I distinctly heard them say, “We’d better start running again, we can get overtaken by that oldie”. With a burst of energy they sped off ahead of me, but I was pleased after another half a kilometre to find they’d slowed down to walking and I was able to pass them a second time.
And before I knew it I was back in the town centre, and there he was… Mr R. just metres from the finish line. So with his cheers ringing in my ears I put a spurt on and crossed the finish line at 54.37.
I found my results on-line: I was 20th woman to finish and the 3rd in my category (Woman over 50) so was pretty pleased, and have been wearing a silly grin along with my medal all afternoon.
Love the pics too 
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My first 10K. What a fantastic day!
First 10k race and bling!!!
A lovely 10k +
Lovely morning for a 10k
Report on my first 10K, and reflecting on a year of running.
