Yesterday I took part in my first race - the King's Head Canter. It's 5k on the back lanes between the villages of Chiddingly and East Hoathly. I'm church organist in East Hoathly (and sometimes Chiddingly) so I knew lots of people in the race and watching.
It was tough! I run regularly at Hastings parkrun which is very flat and whilst I knew this was pretty much all uphill for the middle 3k I wasn't fully prepared for what a challenge that would be.
I set out with an idea of the pace I was going for and all was going well for the first km then the incline began. By the time I got to the top both my mind and my body were telling me I had to stop and walk. My son's step-mum came past me encouraging me to start running again. Afterwards she said how surprised she was that I didn't go with her but I just couldn't be bothered. I'm not sure I possess the competitive edge that you need to push through in situations like that. I didn't feel any urge to beat any of those around me and I knew my own target time was long gone 😔
Managed to run again but stopped twice more. Put on a decent sprint finish in front of the spectators though 😁
Finishing time was 27:40 which actually is only 45 secs slower than my parkrun PB so I'm not too disappointed. My 13 year old son ran as well and finished in 30:02 a full 2.5 mins quicker than his flat parkrun PB so I'm very, very pleased for him.
The biggest cheer of the afternoon though was reserved for a lady who has lived in East Hoathly all of her life who walks the race every year. She is well into her 80s and completed the course in just over 1 hour ❤️
All in all it was a fun experience. There were lots of very fast club runners - 1st male 15:16 first female 18:24 along side runners of all ages from the villages. I just need to learn to run uphill 🤣
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pianoteacher
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Thanks Stephen! I walked the parkrun course at Bedgebury on Friday - those are some serious hills 😮 kudos to you for running there.
I run hills on club runs all the time but we do tend to stop for a breather at the top of them 😂 Think I just need to be a bit more realistic about how fast to go when the course isn't flat x
Thanks Mike! I'm never sure whether I'm better off walking and catching my breath or just running slowly through it. I had a couple of young kids of about 8 running where I was and they were running really fast then stopping and walking to catch their breath then running really fast again. One of them crossed the line with me and the other about 5 secs behind so that approach seemed to work well for them 😁
Drop down into "1st Gear" on hills. Lean in, fast cadence, little steps, but keep going, then lengthen your stride at the top. If you take "normal" strides you'll kill your legs hon x
Well I think you should be jolly proud of yourself pianoteacher- 27:40 for that terrain sounds pretty good to me. Give yourself a pat on the back and don’t be so hard on yourself. 🏃♀️👏👏👏👏. It will take me a few practice runs for the hilly bits of the Santa run as like you I’m used to running on the flat. Well done you.
Thanks Dexy! I'm sure a big part of it is psychological - I find it hard to cope with the fact that my pace is slowing and just want to give up ☹️ I think I just need to run some hills on my own without tracking my pace.
A few slopes could form part of your short run each week just to get some training in.
A long time to go till the 🎅🏻 run but I’m now thinking I should have put UpTheStanley in for the 10k race instead of 5k like me. I’ll have to see if it can be changed later.
Hills are hard, even harder at pace! A little walk to catch your breathe can work wonders.
I think those darn hills really try to psych us runners out......... don’t let them ......you can beat them, you already have. Where I live we are surrounded by hills. A little trick I use though is that I set a rule......eg I will walk for one minute (well whatever suits you), then I shall run again. I do this because I know I won’t run again if I don’t set the boundaries. Or you can use markers along the way....I shall walk to that tree/ gate/ brook etc.
Next time around that course you will feel much better because there is now no unknown and you will have a route strategy. Those hills don’t stand a chance 😃
Thanks Millsie! That's great advice - as I just said to Dexy I think a lot of it is psychological. My son's step mum has run the race at least 10 times so she knows the course really well and she said that makes it much easier - she knows where she has to work really hard but also knows where the easy bits are 😁
Exactly! Also once you take on board that it feels difficult because it is.....it’s a hilll, it really helps. Another thing I do which works well...... I break the hill down, so I look about 20 m ahead.....oooooh that’s not much of an incline I can do that! Then repeat to the top of the hill. Take a walk if you need to along the way. But......run up and over the brow of that darn hill if you can.......and get that uplift when you feel how much easier it has become. Nobody likes hills, we just find our own tactics to deal with them.
Hills! Aaargh! That's a fast time! Well done! Hills are what has held us back from the local park run. One hill but has to be run twice. I did it on a non park run day and it was so hard. Killed my legs for the second circuit. Now running hills in the week as part of our short run. Can't really avoid them if we don't run on the railway line..! So well done you. !! 😀😀
Thanks Ang! Most of my focus for the last few weeks has been on running faster but I definitely need to work on those hills otherwise I'll be very limited as to where I can run.
Have you done your parkrun yet? I'm not always getting notifications of posts so I think I'm missing some things x
Not yet but planned for mid Sept. My sister has been away and wants a couple of weeks to run a couple more 5ks first. Lookimg forward to it despite the hills - and I don't like running in the morning! 🤪🤪
That’s a brilliant time, especially including hills! Not sure I’ll ever go that fast even for our flat Parkrun. So please don’t feel down, you did incredibly well! 😃❤️❤️🏃♀️
Thank you mountaindreamer! I've really surprised myself with the rate of my progress. I'm sure you will naturally get faster but it's important to bare in mind that I have no health issues (other than my eyesight) and I definitely didn't do this from the couch - my fitness levels were good and I was working out 5 times a week - I just thought I couldn't run! x
Thanks Saartjie! No bling unfortunately as the "prize" for completing the course is a free pint from the pub at the finish line. Suffice to say I didn't claim mine - Daniel had a pint of coke though 😁
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I did it! First 10k, First Race, First Bling! 
First ‘official’ 10K race ✅
First 10k race!
First Tourist Park Run
ParkRun done .. first of many!?
