Firstly let me explain I was not running today, I was a volunteer Course Marshall.
My day started at 5.25 am when my alarm went off. I had got everything ready the night before and it felt exactly the way it does on Race day, apart from this morning I wasn’t to fussed about getting some breakfast down me. A short walk to the bus and then off I went to get myself to central london for 7am.
I got to the grand building where they were hosting the sign in and logged myself in, I was then directed to a big room that was full of people who were wearing the tabards and black base ball caps they had just been given. Breakfast was then provided, there was a choice of vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and the one I chose, a big brioche roll with crispy bacon in it. 😀. Coffee, tea, orange juice and water. A variety of crisps and snacks for the morning were provided along with water in little cartons, no plastic bottles. Virgin are doing no plastic bottle events now.
After we had our breakfasts we were collected in our groups to be have our final briefing and be taken to our positions. I thought I was going to be at Piccadilly but there was a slight change around and I was moved to Leicester Square. We got into position just over an hour before the event started, there were four of us on our little section and we chatted for the time we had and got caught up on all the events we had been doing and what we were hoping to do, if you meet other runners you will always find something to chat about 😀.
Then it was time at 9:46am the first runners came through and we clapped, cheered and shouted encouragement. Well for me that was that, how could I start like that and then stop, so I just didn’t, I kept going all the way right through to the final runner and I loved every moment of it. Sometimes I would catch a runners eye and I would get the biggest smile back in return, sometime I would smile and say you are doing great to a runner who was flagging a bit and they would look up give me a cheeky grin and find a spurt form no where. It was a great feeling to be part of the run on the side lines and I loved every minute of it.
My step counter has gone a bit crazy, I had walked over 9,000 steps by the time the race started but it calculated another 11,000 during the event, I did find that I had a rhythm going stepping from side to side as I called out and clapped. We saw the back of the pack runners through and made sure they were treated exactly the same as the front runners
So my stats from the event, walking to and from 25,424 steps
1 hour 45 mins clapping and shouting.
So far my calorie count expenditure for today is 3,605.😂😂😂.
I do feel like I have had a workout and in some ways I feel like I have done more than actually running the 10km. But what a fantastic way to spend the morning.
My rewards for doing this, I will be emailed a code next week that will allow me to enter a Virgin Sport event for free, I already have my eye on the one I want.
So if you want to soak up the atmosphere and get free entry to a race, this a great way to get involved. I will definitely be doing it again, 😀.
Happy running to you all.
Rfc x
Free entry to a virgin event sounds great - can you choose ANY of their events?
First 5K race report
0.5km short of 10km but still happy as race 1 done! 
First 10km race - Odyssea in Paris
